Pieces of an Emotional Puzzle
by Svinorita
Summary: "Everything is good in moderation..." Everything has consequences and that includes an Emotion's influence over their host's behavior! So when Riley's Emotions go into overdrive, how will this impact on her wellbeing? Both she and her Emotions will have to find that fine balance between necessity and excess...
1. Jumping From Joy

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

 **Hello dear readers! I am really excited (but also a little nervous) to start writing this new story…**

 **The message behind this story is "Everything is good in moderation!"**

 **In other words, if we end up having too much of anything (even if it seems like a good thing) then is it beneficial? Or could it actually be harmful to some extent?**

 **As you are about to see in this story, Riley's Emotions are going to find themselves in various situations where they can get a little carried away and as a result, we'll learn how their individual personalities can influence Riley's behavior as well as discover the possible consequences this could lead to!**

 **So as you read through the story, I encourage you all to consider the following points:**

 **What could happen if Joy doesn't learn to curb her enthusiasm sometimes? Can Anger discover the importance of controlling his temper? Will Disgust ever learn how to be less cynical and more accepting in her attitude towards others? Can Fear find a little bit more courage and not make Riley feel so insecure all the time? And does Sadness always have to be so miserable and pessimistic, or can she at least try to go with the flow?**

 **Having said that, I'll be introducing Riley's Emotions to different scenarios that will create a state of super-excitement, raging anger, cynical disgust, extreme fear and depressing sadness. So let's find out what happens in each case…**

 **Also each scenario will have consequences that will lead to the next emotional state of mind, so they are all interconnected in the end!**

 **If that sounds a little confusing, I promise you it will become clear as we progress through the story and you'll see how each emotional response can trigger the next one and so on…**

 **Okay, I think that explains the gist of the story and I hope you all decide to read on and enjoy putting together these "Pieces of an Emotional Puzzle" with me!**

 **First of all, let's get really happy…**

 **Svinorita.**

* * *

 **Chapter 1 – Jumping From Joy.**

It was a cold, rainy Sunday morning in San Francisco. Since it was early autumn, Jill Andersen was busy sorting through the family's wardrobe as she put all the summer clothes away for the year and started unpacking the winter changes.

Her husband; Bill, decided that he wanted to clean out his so-called "Man Cave." He was going through all his old documents and files and shredding the ones that were no longer of any importance as he tidied up and put everything in its proper place.

Meanwhile, Riley was upstairs in her room reluctantly catching up on some school assignments that she had been putting off for far too long.

And it seems that her Emotions were equally as unimpressed with the current situation their young host found herself in! It was probably little wonder that Sadness volunteered to drive at the console while Riley stared at the mountain of schoolwork in front of her with deepening despair.

But Joy would have none of it! In her opinion, there were better ways to spend the weekend than doing boring school assignments! She didn't want their girl to start falling into the autumn gloom, so she convinced Sadness to let her take over at the controls. Joy insisted that she knew the perfect way to spice things up a little and the other Emotions agreed that anything would be better than spending all day doing school projects, so they let Joy take the matter into her own hands...

Joy yawned as she watched Riley finish off her second assignment within two hours. When Riley started reaching for her history book to commence her next lot of work, Joy decided that enough was enough! That particular assignment wasn't even due for another three weeks and it could wait…

Seizing the objective, Joy started pressing multiple buttons on the console as a happy yellow glow spread over the controls and altered Riley's mood dramatically. Reacting to Joy's input, Riley perked up instantly and closed her history book as she went in search of some excitement!

First, she went to see what her mother was doing and she found her in the linen closet surrounded by piles of clothes. As Riley looked around curiously, she noticed that there were three distinct piles and when she asked her mom what they were for, Jill answered that one was for charity while the other two were divided into summer and winter piles.

Jill smiled at her daughter warmly and nodded at the piles of clothes around her that still needed sorting before asking, "Hey sweetie! Would you like to give me a hand with this? It would go much faster with someone helping me!"

Riley shrugged casually and replied, "Okay Mom, sure! I'll just go and grab something to drink first if it's alright?"

Jill assured her that it was fine and Riley made her way towards the kitchen. She ended up passing her Dad's "Man Cave" along the way and was surprised to hear loud music coming from the small room. Feeling curious, Riley walked in and found her Dad sitting on the floor going through his old record collection.

He smiled as he noticed her standing there and Riley nodded in acknowledgement.

"Wow Dad! Those are some pretty cool tunes you've got there…" She commented as she knelt down beside her father and started looking through his collection cheerfully.

XXX

Back in Headquarters, Joy was watching the monitor with a sense of burgeoning excitement.

"Perfect! I've got you right where I want you Little Miss!" She observed, rubbing her hands together in glee.

With a pleased smile on her face, Joy reached for a lever and pushed it forward.

"We'll leave the boring clothes sorting for when Disgust is on duty! Right now we're going to enjoy some music and have fun! It's time to sing and dance!" Joy exclaimed with finality as her enthusiasm flooded through the console and influenced Riley's behavior further.

A huge smile spread across Riley's lips as she looked at her father and asked amicably, "Hey Dad, what's this song we're listening to right now called?"

Bill chuckled and replied, "Oh that sweetheart? It's called _'Here I Go Again'_ by Whitesnake!"

"It's a pretty cool song!" Riley commented admirably.

She continued flicking through her Dad's records, nodding her head to the rock n' roll sound of the Whitesnake song.

She kept up a running commentary as she noted each individual record before putting it down and turning to the next one. "I see you've got some ACDC…of course! There's Twisted Sister…ah! And Kiss!"

She held up the latter record and remarked, "I know Kiss!"

"Can we play it next Dad?" Riley asked her father excitedly.

"Sure thing Monkey! Right after this song finishes." Bill replied happily.

"Cool!" Riley's voice went up a notch as her excitement increased. "Can you show me how you used to dance Dad?"

She tapped a finger against her chin, her expression turning thoughtful as she tried to recall what her mom used to say about her father's old rock 'n roll dance moves…

"What was that air-guitar move called again…head-banging? Mom said you used to be pretty good at it…"

Bill laughed fondly. He leaned in close to his daughter and whispered, "Of course sweetie! But we'll need to be careful so your mother doesn't see us! She's always lecturing me that I'll give myself an aneurism with those crazy dance moves!"

XXX

Inside Riley's Headquarters, Joy was clapping her hands in delight. "Yes! That's what I'm talking about! It's time to party! Let's dance and jump and be jolly and happy!"

She pushed a few more buttons on the console and positioned Riley where she wanted her. Then she pulled back on a lever and made Riley pause for a split-second before letting the fun commence!

Accompanied to the rocking sound of the band Kiss, Riley and Bill started dancing exuberantly as Joy did likewise. The yellow Emotion completely disregarded the bemused looks she was receiving from her watching co-workers as she launched into a series of wild jumps and cartwheels before mimicking Bill with some head-banging and classic air-guitar moves.

Joy was beginning to work herself into a state of wild exhilaration with every passing second! As she frolicked and danced past her co-workers, she called out elatedly, "Come on guys! Join me!"

Sadness struggled to keep track of her cheerful friend as she shot past her like a laughing yellow streak.

"No thanks Joy. I'm quite content to sit here and obsess over the weight of life's problems." Sadness replied with a disconcerted sigh.

Disgust was seated on the sofa, her feet propped up on a footstool as she waited for her freshly painted toenails to dry. She glanced up from her fashion magazine as Joy tumbled past her and scoffed, "Not now Joy! I've just painted my nails and they're still wet!"

Anger was sitting on the opposite end of the sofa from his green co-worker, his face buried in today's edition of _"The Mind Reader."_

"I'd rather exercise my mind right now, not my body!" He grumbled irritably.

Anger glanced up from behind his paper with a frown and added crossly, "So would you keep it down Joy? I'm trying to read here!"

Fear was watching his yellow co-worker with a worried expression, his whole body trembling slightly as he stammered, "Joy be careful! You're freaking me out with all that jumping and twirling! Please slow down before you hurt yourself!"

"He's right Joy! Every time you jump, I close my eyes! You're getting a bit reckless…" Sadness warned, her voice beginning to quiver as she fought back her rising sorrow.

"S-l-o-w d-o-w-n?" Joy asked in a dramatic slow motion voice. She gave a high-spirited laugh of delight and zipped across the room before coming to a stop in front of the console.

"I don't think so! In fact, I'm going to ramp up the excitement!" She pressed several buttons as the other Emotions looked on in dismay before declaring, "Today I'm feeling extra-happy and Riley and I are going to bop till we drop!"

She whirled around and regarded them all with jubilant grin. "You guys really ought to loosen up a little and join us, instead of moaning like a bunch of octogenarians!"

With that, Joy laughed and executed another ecstatic high jump.

XXX

Meanwhile, Bill and Riley really went to town with their fun! The music had been cranked up so loud by now, that the walls were shaking from the volume. Father and daughter were dancing and doing their best air-guitar impersonations and everything was going great…

Until Jill burst into the room with a huge frown of disapproval on her face!

She cupped her hands over her ears from the deafening sound of the music, her frown deepening as she zeroed in on her husband and shouted, "Bill! Have you lost your marbles?! The neighbors are going to start complaining! The music is too loud!"

"What's that Honey? I can't hear you! The music is too loud!" Bill shouted back at her, making no attempt to turn down the volume on the record player.

Jill growled in frustration and directed her annoyance at Riley. "And Riley! You said you were going to help me sort out the clothes! Instead I come here and find you and your father acting like monkeys!"

"But mom! What you're doing is boring!" Riley complained over the music.

She turned to her Dad and laughed happily. "This is more fun!"

With that Riley high-fived her Dad and both of them started singing along to the Kiss song blaring over the speakers. "I'm gonna rock n' roll all night…and party every day!"

Jill balled her fists at her sides and yelled in desperation, "Just stop it! Before one of you gets hurt!"

Bill waved off his wife's concern and shouted over the music, "Stop whining and come join us spoil sport!"

As the song ended, Riley and her Dad launched into their air-guitar solos. Riley was going for a spectacular finish. She jumped and swung her arm in a circular motion…and wound up slamming her wrist hard on the edge of her Dad's computer desk.

A searing pain shot up Riley's arm and she gave a sharp scream of agony, causing both of her parents to rush over to her in a panicked state.

"Oh sweetheart! Let me see…" Bill demanded. His face was wracked with worry as he took his daughter's forearm in trembling hands and inspected her injury carefully.

Riley had started sobbing as her Dad gently ran his fingers over her badly bruised wrist. A horrible gash had appeared at the spot where Riley's wrist had come into contact with the edge of the wooden desk and there was a trickle of blood flowing from the wound.

Bill did his best to comfort his daughter, his voice trembling slightly as he turned to Jill and said urgently, "Hurry Jill! Bring the ice pack from the kitchen!"

XXX

Inside Headquarters, Joy was in the middle of doing a high jump when she heard Riley's ear-piercing scream of pain. She lost concentration and landed badly on her left leg, severely twisting her ankle in the process.

Joy crumpled to the floor and joined Riley with her own screams of agony as she felt a blinding pain shoot through her leg. The other Emotions rushed to the console in an instant, the cries of pain coming from their host as well as from their yellow co-worker sending them into a fit of panic.

In the confusion, everyone started pressing buttons and pulling levers at the same time, their frantic input reflected in Riley's erratic reactions…

One minute she was crying as she felt herself overcome with Sadness and pain. "Ow! It hurts so badly!" She wept through streams of tears.

Then she became irate as she felt overridden by Anger. "How could I have been so stupid?! I have a really important hockey game this Tuesday!"

Suddenly her mouth twisted in a sneer of Disgust as she remarked, "Urgh! What am I whining for?! It serves me right! None of this would have happened if I had decided to sort out those clothes with mom instead!"

Then just as abruptly, Riley's eyes widened with Fear and she glanced down at her injured wrist in panic. "Oh no! What if it's broken?! How could I have been so reckless?!"

By now Jill had returned with the ice pack and Bill carefully applied it to Riley's wrist. After holding it there for several minutes, Bill asked her to try to move her fingers slowly.

Jill wept as she watched her little girl whimpering in pain as she wiggled her fingers stiffly, fresh tears rolling down her cheeks as the pain intensified.

"Why doesn't anyone ever listen to me?! I told you something like this would happen!" Jill sobbed despairingly.

Bill's expression was full of guilt. He sighed and whispered regretfully, "I'm so sorry Jilly! I was such an idiot! I got so carried away in the moment that I acted irresponsibly…"

After a few moments of tense silence, Bill turned to his daughter and told her gently, "It doesn't appear to be broken sweetie."

He lifted the ice pack slowly off Riley's wrist. "Even the swelling has gone down a little and you can move your fingers, so that's a good sign."

Riley sniffled and nodded wordlessly. Bill gently drew her into a hug and said reassuringly, "If it still hurts by tomorrow, we'll take you to Dr. Mikkelsen so he can take a look at it."

Jill kissed her on the forehead and whispered, "I'll go get you some painkillers and then we'll rub some sprain ointment on the wound. Afterwards, I'll make you a sling so you don't move that arm too much and hopefully it will feel better by tonight."

Then Jill took a deep breath and tried to keep her voice level as she lectured, "I hope you learned your lesson young lady! They don't say _'everything in moderation'_ for nothing you know! Too much of _anything,_ no matter how innocent it seems, is not necessarily a good thing!"

Riley looked up at her mother timidly and whined, "But I didn't do anything wrong! I was just feeling really happy and excited…"

Jill sighed and replied patiently, "True. But you were also being reckless and in your excitement, you ended up throwing all caution out the window! You didn't think about the consequences and that's why you got hurt!"

Riley averted her eyes to the floor guiltily, her shoulders slouching in misery. She felt her mother's hand squeezing her arm gently as Jill went on quietly, "I'm not saying that you shouldn't be happy…but if you don't hold your horses sometimes, they might stampede and cause some damage!"

Riley sighed and nodded slowly, her voice barely more than a whisper as she said, "Okay Mom. I get you. I admit that I was being reckless and silly and I promise that I'll be more careful from now on."

Jill gave the faintest of smiles and hugged her daughter gently. "Okay sweetheart. You can go watch some TV and rest that arm…"

She glanced over at Bill, her voice taking on a sharper edge as she concluded, "Because I'm not finished with your Dad yet! He is about to receive a refreshment course on responsible parenting behavior and since he likes loud music, we'll have that conversation in his study because I intend to speak very loudly just for him!"

Bill shifted uncomfortably and grimaced as he followed Jill out of the room and down the hall. Riley gave a deep sigh and made her way into the lounge room. She threw herself onto the sofa grumpily and mumbled, "Stupid idiot! You're definitely going to miss Tuesday's game now!"

XXX

Meanwhile in Headquarters, Joy was still sitting on the floor moaning as she rubbed her injured leg gingerly. "Ooh…Ow! Ow! What have I done?! Riley got hurt because of me!"

Fear was kneeling beside her and holding an ice pack against her swollen ankle. "Oh Joy…why didn't you listen to me?!"

Anger stood to the side, watching his yellow co-worker with his arms folded over his chest. "Ha! She never listens to anyone because she's stubborn and thinks she knows everything!" He scoffed bitterly.

Joy shot the red Emotion a defiant look. "Oh _you_ can talk!"

Disgust regarded her yellow co-worker with scorn. "Joy, sometimes you should stop acting like a kid! If you had allowed me paint your nails like I suggested, this probably wouldn't have happened!"

"Come on guys, can't you see she's in pain?" Sadness pointed out sympathetically. The blue Emotion was kneeling beside her injured friend and rubbing her arm reassuringly.

"Is anyone going to help me take Joy to her room so she can rest?" Sadness asked softly.

Joy gave her a small smile of appreciation and squeezed her hand in gratitude. "Thanks Sadness."

Fear slowly removed the ice pack from Joy's ankle and offered kindly, "Here Joy, I'll help you. Put one arm around my shoulders and lean your other arm on Sadness for support and together we'll guide you to your room."

XXX

Once Sadness and Fear arrived in Joy's room, they gently helped ease their injured co-worker into her bed. Sadness applied some sprain ointment to Joy's ankle while Fear wrapped her foot in bandages before placing a small cushion underneath it for extra support.

Sadness volunteered to stay with her for a while in case Joy needed anything. The yellow Emotion thanked her for her help and compassion before slowly drifting off to sleep.

Just before Sadness left the room, she heard Joy say in a quiet whisper, "I'm sorry for being so reckless Sadness. I guess I need to curb my enthusiasm a little and learn how to manage my excitement better…"

Sadness nodded in agreement, a tiny smile tracing her lips as she replied, "Amen to that!"

Then she closed the door and left Joy to rest and recover while she rejoined the others in the main room.

* * *

 **Quick Note:**

 **I hope you all enjoyed this first chapter as we discovered what could happen if we get too carried away in our excitement!**

 **I also wanted to point out something about the image I used for this story…**

 **I've decided that from now on, I'm going to create my own images (at least for some stories) instead of just using random images I have saved in my pictures folder. I thought it would be fun to take photos of my Fear plush and place him in different situations that reflect the theme of the story. In this case it's "Pieces of an Emotional Puzzle" so that's why I scattered some jigsaw pieces around him...**

 **Sorry guys, but I only have Fear so I can't use any of the other characters! I'm just letting you know because he's going to be the star of the cover images for many of my upcoming stories from now on :)**

 **Svinorita.**


	2. One Night of Anger (Part 1)

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

 **We probably all strive to be ruled by Joy, but unfortunately that's not possible for most of us all the time…**

 **In the previous chapter, I gave you a relatively innocent (albeit painful) example of what can happen when we get too carried away in our happiness. But although both Riley and Joy were left nursing a sprained wrist and ankle, sometimes the consequences of reckless excitement can be far more serious. Sometimes, people get really excited about a new car and drive too fast…and that often doesn't end well. Or some people like to party too hard and don't think about the danger they are exposing themselves to…**

 **Anyway, my point is that it's great to be happy but we also need to be a little cautious or we could end up getting hurt!**

 **And like I mentioned in the previous Author's Note, all these Emotional puzzles are interconnected and each one will introduce the next scenario. So as you are about to see, Riley started out really happy, but after injuring herself she's been feeling rather cranky…**

 **It's time to let our tempers flare because Riley is about to get pretty pissed off!**

 **Just one more thing I forgot to mention earlier…Riley is fifteen years old in this story. In order for some of these other scenarios to be plausible, (as in this case where we will see some teen rebellion!) I had to make her a little bit older :)**

 **Svinorita.**

* * *

 **Chapter 2 – One Night of Anger (Part 1.)**

"Anger? Are you sure you're going to be okay minding the console by yourself?" Joy asked her red co-worker hesitantly. She was still feeling a little reluctant about leaving Anger in charge by himself, but a part of her wanted to believe that she could trust him to keep Riley out of trouble.

After her poor judgement yesterday, which had resulted in both Riley and herself getting injured, Joy had been feeling terribly guilty. Sure, things could have been worse and at least Riley didn't fracture her wrist while she was goofing around with her Dad.

But Joy felt responsible for their girl getting hurt in the first place! If she had tried to restrain her enthusiasm just a little, Riley probably wouldn't have slammed her wrist so carelessly and she wouldn't have to miss out on this Tuesday's hockey game as a result!

At least Riley's wrist was looking much better today and her parents decided that she was well enough to go to school.

As for Joy herself…

Her ankle was also feeling much better after a good rest, although she still limped a little when she walked. But true to her nature, Joy didn't let it slow her down and after Disgust offered to take her to Fashion Island to get her hair done, Joy agreed with as much optimism as ever. She needed to do something to get her mind off yesterday's drama and a trip to Fashion Island with Disgust seemed like a welcome distraction!

But somebody still had to watch Riley while they were gone and unfortunately, Anger was the only Emotion that was available at the moment…

So with a forced smile, Joy approached her red co-worker and explained with as much enthusiasm as she could, "Disgust and I are planning to have our hair done on Fashion Island, so I'm trusting you with Riley's wellbeing while we're out."

Anger muttered something under his breath, which Joy guessed was his way of saying that he was fine with it.

Joy relaxed slightly. Her smile became warmer and she convinced herself that everything would be fine. Anger may have a volatile temper but she knew that he would keep Riley safe and make sure that she would be treated with respect.

Just before she turned to leave, Joy reminded Anger in a quiet voice, "And please don't disturb Fear today! The poor thing is in bed with a really bad tummy ache and he doesn't need to be stressed out further."

She gave a small shrug and offered, "You can always call on Sadness if you need help around here...but she said that she wanted to clean out her room and at her pace, that will probably take all day!"

Anger rolled his eyes and grunted impatiently, "Yeah, yeah! It's not like I haven't done this before Joy!"

He made a shooing motion with his hands. "Now go away already, so I can enjoy some peace and quiet!"

Joy sighed and with a departing glance at the monitor, she made her way over to Disgust's room, calling out as she went. "Disgust! Are you ready? Let's go make ourselves look pretty!"

Anger scoffed and shook his head. He waddled over to the console and looked up at the screen. Riley was currently getting ready for school and everything appeared to be normal.

The red Emotion gave a bored sigh and grumbled, "Everyday it's the same thing! I can practically do this with my eyes closed!"

Anger sat down on the sofa and started reading his newspaper while Joy and Disgust headed to the loading zone to catch the Train of Thought as it dropped off this morning's deliveries.

XXX

Meanwhile, Riley had just finished packing her books into her schoolbag. She tried moving her wrist tentatively and was pretty happy with how it felt. There was hardly any pain at all and the swelling had gone down a great deal.

But deep down, she was still angry with herself. How could she have been so reckless?! Her parents told her that she would have to miss at least two weeks of hockey practice to let the injury heal properly, and Riley felt like she was letting her team down!

Riley sighed and slung her schoolbag over her shoulder as she headed for the door. As she walked past the kitchen, her mother called out to her to have a good day at school.

Riley paused at the door and turned to face her Mom. She had recently made a new friend at school, and last Friday she had asked Riley whether they could hang out at the mall after school sometime…

Riley put on a hopeful smile and approached her mother, who was putting away the dishes from this morning's breakfast.

"Hey Mom? Is it alright if I go to the mall with Dolly after school today? We just want to get some t-shirts and ice cream." Riley asked innocently.

Jill turned to look at her daughter with a baffled expression on her face. "But Sweetie! I thought you agreed to help me with dinner?"

Riley looked down at her feet uncomfortably. "Oh right…"

"And besides, I thought we could watch a movie together afterwards…" Jill added with a note of hurt in her voice.

"But Mom! I'm fifteen! Most of the girls in my class go to the mall after school! I feel like a weirdo because I never get to do that!" Riley insisted, her expression turning defiant as she challenged her mother.

Jill looked slightly taken aback by this unexpected response.

But Riley wasn't done yet. She took a deep breath and stated, "Dolly has an older sister named Deedee who works as a hairdresser at the mall and she agreed to give me a lift home when she finishes her shift."

Jill folded her arms over her chest and raised an eyebrow quizzically at her daughter. "Well young lady…it sounds like you have everything planned don't you?"

Riley groaned in exasperation. "No Mom! I'm just trying to be _normal!"_

Jill was silent as she pondered over Riley's proposal. Finally her expression softened and she gave a defeated sigh. "Well okay sweetie…if it's what you really want, then you have my permission to go."

Riley felt a thankful smile spread across her lips as Jill said, "Take some money from my purse in case you find that nice t-shirt you were talking about."

Riley gave her Mom a big hug and kissed her on the cheek gratefully. "Thanks Mom! You're the greatest! Don't worry, I'll be safe and I promise I won't be home late!"

Anger glanced at the screen and frowned. "Pretty boring if you ask me!"

He turned his attention back to his newspaper and grunted indifferently. "There's nothing even remotely interesting happening here…"

 _Oh well…at least I have some peace and quiet! Even Anger needs a day to unwind every now and then!_ He thought to himself smugly.

XXX

As the day wore on, Anger discovered that he really liked having the control room all to himself! There was no one around to lecture him about being lazy or complain that he eats too much, and Anger decided to make the most of this rare opportunity. So he read his paper and munched on sandwiches to his heart's content!

Soon he was feeling stuffed and he had read the whole paper cover-to-cover. He went to check on Sadness a few times to see whether she needed any help cleaning her room. But every time he checked in on her, he found her sorting through the same sock drawer she had been occupied with since this morning!

After finding her still focused on that same drawer on his fifth check, Anger asked her whether she wanted any help.

Without looking up at him, Sadness replied somberly, "No thanks Anger. I'm busy…but fine."

Anger rolled his eyes and shuffled out of her room.

 _Yeah…busy doing nothing at all!_ He thought to himself humorlessly.

He didn't bother to check on Fear. After all, Joy had told him to leave him alone! Besides, he wasn't too keen on spoiling his day by listening to Beanpole's whining!

The next time Anger looked at the monitor, he saw that Riley was eating ice cream and chatting with some girl that he assumed was Dolly. (He hadn't really paid much attention to Riley's new friend when she met her at school the other day, so he couldn't say for sure…)

But judging by the way Riley and this girl were talking with each other and laughing, he felt pretty confident that this was Dolly. They both had plastic shopping bags next to their chairs, so Anger guessed that they had bought those t-shirts after all.

Suddenly, he heard Riley's friend saying, "Deedee should be finishing her shift soon. Let's go get our hair done while we're waiting!"

Anger yawned loudly and mumbled, "Boring…what is it with everyone getting their hair done today?! First Joy and Disgust, and now Riley!"

Oh well! That's something the red Emotion didn't have to worry about. He didn't have any hair to fuss over!

Anger grimaced as he felt his stomach rumbling. He was getting hungry again…

Anger decided that Riley would be fine without his supervision for a few minutes, so he left the console and headed into the kitchen to make some more sandwiches. He was pretty sure he saw some hot salami left over from before and a cup of coffee would go down nicely too!

XXX

Riley and Dolly arrived at the hair salon where Deedee worked. As it turned out, her shift wasn't over yet and since she didn't have any customers at the moment, she offered to give her sister; Dolly a makeover.

Dolly, who had medium-length dark brown hair, decided to get it cut really short and dyed jet black for a complete image overhaul! In the end, both sisters were very happy with the final result. Riley wasn't so sure, but she put on a polite smile and told her friend that she looked great.

"Oh my god sis! Now you really _do_ look like your namesake…Dolores O'Riordan from _The Cranberries!"_ Deedee complimented her younger sister proudly.

Dolly laughed happily. "Why thank you Deidre! Maybe we can change it to blonde in a few weeks' time!"

Riley was looking at her friend curiously. "Wow! I didn't know you were named after Dolores from _The Cranberries!"_

Dolly nodded, her green eyes lighting up with excitement as she explained, "Well our parents are Irish and they absolutely adored Dolores O'Riordan, so they decided to name me after her!"

Suddenly, an eager smile spread across Dolly's face. She glanced at her sister and back to Riley before offering excitedly, "Hey I know! Since my sister's shift is not officially over yet, would you like to have her style your hair as well Riley?"

Riley's expression dropped and she suddenly looked very uncomfortable. "I don't know…I mean that's very nice of you to offer like that…but I didn't really think about it…"

"Maybe I should check with my Mom first?" Riley stuttered nervously, averting her eyes from Dolly and her sister's expectant looks uncertainly.

Dolly snorted in bemusement. Her tone was incredulous as she touched Riley's arm and insisted, "Girl! You are fifteen! You don't have to check with your Mom anymore!"

A dubious smile crept across Dolly's face as she declared confidently, "I stopped checking with my Mom when I was like twelve!"

Riley shifted in her seat anxiously. "Maybe next time? I don't have any money left anyway…"

"Come on Ri! You don't need money!" Dolly assured her with a laugh.

She glanced at her sister and winked as she prompted, "Deedee will do it for free! Won't you Deedee?"

Deidre nodded and gave Riley a warm smile of encouragement. "Of course! It would be my pleasure!"

She narrowed her eye at her little sister and warned in a serious tone, "Just don't tell my boss, or else I'm going to cop a lot of flak from her!"

Dolly promised and Deedee turned back to Riley with a friendly smile.

She tapped her barber's chair invitingly and said, "Take a seat in my _office_ Riley!"

Riley felt hesitant and unsure. It didn't feel right to get her hair cut without telling her parents first and she was worried about what they would say to her when they found out.

But she also didn't want to look like a baby in front of her new friends…

Riley frowned as a look of determination dawned on her face. Dolly was right! She was a teenager now and she was entitled to make her own decisions!

So after convincing herself that it was no big deal, Riley sat down in the barber's chair and told Deedee, "Okay. I guess a little trim won't hurt…"

Dolly nudged her sister with her elbow and gave her a sly wink. "Yeah, just a little trim…and maybe some strawberry blonde highlights to accentuate your natural hair color!"

Riley started having second thoughts almost immediately. But as Deedee began snipping away at her hair, she decided to keep her doubts to herself.

 _It doesn't look so bad…I'm sure everything will be fine!_ Riley tried to reassure herself as Deedee cut off more and more hair. But her desire to fit in overshadowed her better judgement and Riley chose to remain silent.

Once Deedee had finished trimming Riley's hair, she proceeded to apply some colored highlights. Riley looked on nervously, as pieces of her hair were wrapped in tin foil and left in place for several minutes. After a while, Dolly helped her sister wash off the excess dye from Riley's hair and announced that the makeover was complete.

Both sisters seemed very pleased with Riley's new look. Riley herself was feeling really anxious and held her breath as she risked a glance in the mirror.

Riley's eyes went wide in horror and she almost cried out as she caught sight of her reflection in the mirror. To her dismay, she discovered that she didn't have light-colored highlights in her hair like Dolly had suggested, but fiery red ones instead!

She was too stunned to speak as she turned and stared at Dolly with her mouth hanging open in disbelief.

Dolly smiled at her in admiration and exclaimed in a super-excited voice, "Girl! You are so hot! I told you this makeover would be great!"

Riley was utterly speechless. She didn't want to offend her friend, but she was absolutely mortified with her new look! And then Deedee stood behind her and held up a small mirror so she could see the back of her head and Riley almost passed out from shock!

The hair on the back of her head had been cut pretty short whilst Deedee had left it slightly longer on the sides so that it looked like a 1950's bob style!

 _Oh no! My Mom is going to kill me!_ Riley thought with a deepening sense of dread.

Deedee on the other hand appeared very proud of her work. "I've gotta say, I'm really impressed with how this turned out!"

Dolly nodded in agreement, her voice rising in excitement as she praised, "Nice job sis! I bet tomorrow all the boys in our school are going to ask Riley for her phone number!"

Riley finally managed to pull herself together and find her voice. She forced a smile and replied shakily, "Yeah…it's very nice…thanks…"

Doing her best to conceal her disappointment, Riley looked at the two sisters and announced meekly, "I'm feeling a bit tired…can we go home now?"

Deedee glanced at her watch and nodded in confirmation. "Sure! My shift ended a few minutes ago."

She turned to her sister and said, "Dolly can lead you to the car while I get my stuff and clock off for the day."

About ten minutes later, Riley was sitting in the backseat of Deidre's car on her way home. As the two sisters chatted away with each other happily, Riley kept quiet. She was mentally preparing herself for the hostile reception she was going to receive as soon as she walked through the front door and she knew the outcome was inevitable.

 _My parents are going to be furious! They'll probably never trust me again…_ Riley thought with a terrible sinking feeling in her stomach.

 _To Be Continued…_

* * *

 **NOTE:**

 **I've decided that I'm going to have to split this chapter in two parts, otherwise it would have turned out very long!**

 **Anyway, as you can see Riley is in deep trouble and I can assure you that tempers will be flaring in the next part…both in Riley's case and inside Headquarters! Anger has a lot to answer for...**

 **Until then, I hope you're all enjoying the story and I'll be sure to have the second part out by next week :)**

 **Svinorita.**


	3. One Night of Anger (Part 2)

**Chapter 3 – One Night of Anger (Part 2.)**

Riley pushed open the front door and walked inside as quietly as she could. She heard her parents in the lounge room, laughing at some comedy movie they were watching and she paused behind the door, holding her breath nervously. Riley knew that any moment now they would notice that she was home and they would see her new short hairstyle with its fiery red highlights. Then all that laughter would be replaced with angry yelling and tears…

 _But maybe, just maybe I could postpone that confrontation until tomorrow morning…_ Riley thought to herself hopefully.

 _If only I can make it upstairs before my parents catch a glimpse of me! At least that would spare me having to explain myself to them right now!_

So after taking a deep breath to calm her nerves and steady her racing heart, Riley hurried past the lounge room as quickly and stealthily as she could. As soon as she reached the bottom of the stairs, she announced hesitantly, "Mom! Dad! I'm home!"

She was already halfway up the stairs before adding hurriedly, "I'm just going to take a shower and go to bed! I'm really tired…"

"Hold your horses young lady! Did you have a good time?" Jill called from the lounge room. The sound of her approaching footsteps in the hall sent a wave of dread rolling down Riley's spine.

"Let's see those new t-shirts then!" Jill said chirpily, her footsteps drawing nearer by the second.

"Not now Mom! I'm very tired…" Riley called back as she made a desperate dash for the bathroom.

But it was too late. Before she could make it to the bathroom unseen, she heard her mother's horrified voice screaming behind her.

 **"RILEY! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!"**

XXX

Jill's scream of outrage woke Anger from a light sleep. The red Emotion cursed and threw a cushion at the screen impulsively. His eyes darted around the room furiously, trying to locate who had disturbed his slumber.

Finally his gaze settled on Riley's point-of-view screen and he gave an irritated grunt before sliding off the sofa and marching up to the console with a withering frown on his face.

Suddenly Anger's expression turned into a look of surprise as he stared at the monitor in bewilderment. Riley was currently standing in front of the bathroom mirror, staring at her reflection dismally while her parents shouted and yelled at her from the doorway.

Anger stared at Riley's reflection with wide eyes. A terrible realization dawned on him as he noted her new appearance. He had fallen asleep on duty and now Riley had gotten herself into trouble…

He was supposed to be keeping an eye on her and he failed!

"Holy pepperoni and all the hot Hungarian salami in the world! I'm screwed…" He muttered, pulling on his necktie fretfully.

Suddenly the sound of excited chattering coming from the loading zone snapped Anger out of his stupor. Joy and Disgust were back from Fashion Island!

Anger glanced back at the console in panic, beads of sweat appearing on the side of his face as he began pressing buttons and pulling levers frantically.

"Oh boy! I need to do something about this right now!" He grumbled. An angry red glow began spreading across the console as he pounded away at the controls out of desperation.

At that moment, Joy and Disgust's shocked screams cut through the air like nails on a chalkboard and Anger cringed. He clenched his teeth and growled as he whipped around to face them grumpily.

But for the second time tonight, Anger was stunned by the sight of more crazy hairstyles! The corner of his eye twitched in irritation as he noted Joy and Disgust's new makeovers…

Disgust had decided to get gold streaks in her green hair whilst Joy now sported silver tips to her choppy blue locks.

"What is going on around here? Did everyone decide to have a crazy hair day today?!" Anger snapped in annoyance.

A few sparks flared up on his own head as he instinctively went into battle mode. He was prepared to defend his case against their criticism at any cost!

But it quickly became obvious that Joy and Disgust were not looking at him. Instead both Emotions were staring _past_ him and focusing on the monitor with mortified expressions.

" **ANGER! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!"** Joy shrieked at the top of her voice. Her blue eyes finally settled on her red co-worker in disbelief as Anger glared back at her defiantly.

Before he could respond, Sadness came running from her room as fast as her short legs could carry her. She stopped beside Joy and Disgust, panting heavily as she looked at the others with a worried expression on her face.

"What's wrong Joy? I've never heard you scream like that before…" Sadness gasped, her chest heaving as she fought back her own rising panic.

Joy didn't answer. Instead she slowly lifted an arm and pointed at the screen without taking her eyes off Anger. Sadness looked to where her yellow companion was indicating and her eyes widened in shock as she caught sight of Riley's reflection in the bathroom mirror.

The blue Emotion gave a wail of despair and sank to the floor on her knees. "Oh no! What happened to Riley's hair?! She looks so sad…"

Sadness covered her face with her hands and wept inconsolably. Her words were barely coherent as she cried hysterically, "I want my old Riley back!"

All the commotion disturbed Fear and he came to see what all the fuss was about. The purple Emotion walked into the room weakly, a pained expression on his face as he clutched his tummy and groaned, "Can't an Emotion die in peace around here? Or is it too much to ask?!"

He glanced up at the screen and lurched forward, covering his mouth with one hand as a fresh wave of nausea washed over him, triggered by the shock of seeing Riley with such a drastic new look.

By now, Joy was jabbering like a machine gun, her voice sharp and accusing as she let her feelings be known loud and clear.

The others looked on with mounting anxiety as she shouted at Anger furiously, **"I GAVE YOU ONE SIMPLE INSTRUCTION TO WATCH OVER RILEY WHILE I WAS OUT AND YOU DIDN'T DO YOUR JOB! HOW COULD YOU BE SO IGNORANT?! JUST LOOK AT WHAT YOU'VE DONE!"**

Joy wagged a finger in Anger's face, her whole body trembling with fury as she yelled, **"YOU SHOULD HAVE TAKEN CONTROL AND STOPPED HER FROM GOING AHEAD WITH THE MAKEOVER!"**

The yellow Emotion threw her hands in the air in exasperation. **"HOW ARE WE GOING TO FIX THIS NOW?!"**

Anger's head was ablaze as he stared down his yellow co-worker defiantly. His hands were balled into tight fists and his face was twisted with rage as he struggled to restrain his own temper.

Before he could retaliate, Disgust stepped in and tried to diffuse the tension.

She stomped her foot in frustration and yelled with as much authority as she could manage, "Everyone time out! All of you just stop overreacting!"

The other Emotions looked at their green co-worker in bemusement. Disgust however, didn't back down as she walked into the center of the group with determination and regarded them all with scorn.

Placing her hands on her hips, she addressed each one in turn reproachfully. "Anger! You need to grow up and take responsibility for your actions!"

"Fear! Go back to your room before you collapse!"

"Sadness! Stop creating puddles with your tears…my shoes are getting soggy!"

"And Joy! Stop yelling! You're giving me a headache!"

Ignoring the baffled looks she was receiving from her co-workers, Disgust adopted a confident stance and added nonchalantly, "And by the way, I don't think Riley's new haircut looks as bad as you're all making it out to be! In fact, I think it makes her look more mature and trendy!"

"I don't think it looks so bad myself." Anger agreed gruffly. He shot a defensive look at Joy and insisted stubbornly, "What's the big deal anyway? It's just hair! It will grow back!"

Joy sighed in exasperation and stressed, "It's not just about the hair! You abandoned your duty Anger!"

The yellow Emotion hung her head sadly. Her voice was full of disappointment as she pointed out, "You are supposed to help Riley make the right decisions at any given time in her day-to-day life! What if she decides that tomorrow she wants to get her nose or tongue pierced?"

She looked up at her red co-worker and accused harshly, "Are you going to do anything about it? Or are you just going to stuff your face and laze around with your newspaper all day?!"

Joy clenched her fists and looked away from Anger's irate expression dismissively. "How am I supposed to trust you ever again Anger?"

Anger had finally reached his breaking point. Without realizing what he was doing, the red Emotion slammed his fist down on the console as hard as he could, his head erupting in flames as he yelled, **"OH? AND YOU'RE SO PERFECT AREN'T YOU?!"**

The console turned an ominous shade of lava red as the force of Anger's fist smashing into the controls caused something to jam up inside. Within moments, it felt as though waves of angry energy were emanating from the damaged console and spreading throughout Headquarters, affecting both Riley and her Emotions as everyone started arguing with each other with renewed ferocity.

Disgust threw her hands up into the air and shouted, "Nice going nitwit! Who's going to find some Mind Workers willing to fix the console at this hour of night?!"

Leaving the others behind to squabble, Disgust set out to look for help anyway.

With a final despondent sigh, Sadness began shuffling off behind her green co-worker. She just wanted to get away from all the fighting already!

XXX

Riley stormed past her parents and went to her bedroom. She slammed the door forcefully and shouted, "It's just stupid hair! It will grow back! Everyone else seems to like it, so why can't you?!"

Riley threw herself face down on her bed and screamed into her pillow. She was so angry, that she felt like steam was going to start coming out of her ears any second! She was furious with herself for going ahead with that stupid haircut when she knew she shouldn't have done it in the first place. She was mad at her parents for yelling at her and carrying on like it was the end of the world because she had gotten a new hairstyle without their permission. And she was fuming about why she allowed Dolly to convince her to change her hair when she didn't really want to!

But it seemed as if everything had happened so fast! It was like she wasn't thinking straight and all she cared about in that moment was impressing her new friends…

Riley sat up and slapped her forehead with her palm as she thought moodily, _"If Dolly told me to jump out the window, would I have done it just to please her?!"_

She kicked off her shoes and threw them in the corner of the room angrily. One shoe hit a hockey trophy that was standing on the edge of her desk and knocked it to the floor. Riley flinched as it hit the ground and broke in half. She growled in frustration as she felt her anger intensifying.

Unfortunately the noise had also alerted her parents and she heard her Dad yelling down the hall, "Riley! Stop carrying on or you're grounded!"

Riley balled her fists and started pacing around the room like a tiger in a cage. "Everyone treats me like a baby and I've had enough of it!"

She lunged for her desk chair and dragged it across the room, ramming it under her doorknob tightly. She was putting herself into solitary confinement and she wasn't going to come out until she felt like it!

A few seconds later, Riley saw the doorknob rattling as her Dad tried to open the door unsuccessfully.

Bill banged and pushed on the door, his voice rising in anger as he demanded, "Riley! Open this door right now!"

Riley sat down on the floor and crossed her legs. A defiant smile appeared on her lips as she stared at the door and deliberately remained silent.

Bill banged on the door even louder. Riley watched the doorknob as it suddenly stopped rattling around. She heard her father saying in a dangerously level voice, "Okay young lady. If that's how you want to play it, then fine! You have ten minutes to calm down and when your mother and I return, this door had better be open!"

 _You wish!_ Riley thought stubbornly.

 _I've had enough of all of you! My life sucks!_

She remained rooted to the spot and waited for her parents to come back with a _couldn't-care-less_ attitude.

Surely enough exactly ten minutes passed before Riley heard her father banging on the door again. **"RILEY! OPEN THIS DOOR RIGHT NOW OR I'M GOING TO BREAK IT DOWN!"** Bill roared furiously.

Riley just rolled her eyes and mumbled under her breath spitefully, "Break the door! See if I care! Break everything! It makes no difference to me!"

All of a sudden, she heard her Mom's concerned voice on the other side of the door. "Bill! Stop carrying on! You're scaring her!"

Jill made a muffled choking sound and added with rising urgency, "It's been awfully quiet in there for a while now…I hope she's alright! I hope she didn't do anything to herself!"

Jill's voice took on an accusing edge as she shouted at her husband, "You're always yelling and overacting Bill!"

" _I'm_ always yelling?!" Bill shouted back indignantly. "You're the one who started all this when you screamed at her!"

Riley heard her mother give a desperate sob and reply, "I know that was insensitive of me…but I was just so shocked and concerned about her!"

Riley's breath caught in her throat as she heard her mother pleading tearfully through the door, "Riley, sweetie! Please open the door! I'm sorry I yelled at you earlier…I was just surprised! Your hair really doesn't look that bad…in fact it makes you look more grown up!"

Riley stared uncertainly at the door. Mixed feelings were going through her mind as she listened to her mother's words with a growing sense of regret for her explosive outburst.

"Maybe next time, I can take you to my hairdresser and we can do something different with your hair…but seriously sweetie, it looks great!"

Suddenly Riley thought she detected a hint of sarcasm in her mother's voice as Jill related tartly, "Your father is yelling now, but I can tell you that when he was young, he thought of himself as a bit of a rock star and he had really long hair! He thought it looked cool, when in fact it looked like a shaggy mop on his head!"

Bill made a choking sound and retorted, _"I_ looked like a shaggy mop you say?! And need I remind you Jilly that a couple of years ago, you colored your hair purple! Apparently you were feeling so _fearless_ at the time that you wanted to go and climb Mount Kilimanjaro! Perhaps Prince should have hired you for his _Purple Rain_ music video?!"

Jill's voice was dangerously level as she replied warningly, "If you don't stop right now Bill Andersen, I'm going to start locking the bedroom door every night and you'll find yourself sleeping on the couch for a month!"

Inside her room, Riley felt a small smile tracing her lips as she listened to her parents bickering. She couldn't help thinking to herself, _"We all keep saying that it's just hair…so why are we still fighting about it?"_

Riley got up from the floor and carefully removed the chair from underneath the doorknob. Then she took a deep breath and opened the door silently.

She found her parents staring at her with worried expressions and she averted her eyes from theirs guiltily.

"Mom, Dad…I'm sorry." Riley whispered remorsefully.

"Oh sweetie…" Jill exclaimed, tears of relief flowing down her face as she enveloped Riley in a hug. "It's okay darling! Let's not fight anymore…"

Bill gave her a reassuring smile and ruffled her hair playfully. "You're mother's right. You look like a classy young lady!"

A teasing glint appeared in his eye as Bill tapped his chin thoughtfully. "But let me think about it…you still might be grounded after your disrespectful attitude tonight!"

"Dad!" Riley groaned despairingly.

"Bill!" Jill echoed with equal disdain.

Bill winked and tackled them both in a fatherly hug. The three of them fell to the floor and started laughing happily as they engaged in some good-natured family bonding.

XXX

There was also relief in Headquarters. Disgust had gone down to Dream Productions to look for someone to come up and repair the console. After asking around for a while, she decided to put her flirting skills to the test and her irresistible charms finally paid off!

She came across a stagehand Mind Worker who also happened to be a qualified repairman and as soon as he saw Disgust, he agreed to help out very eagerly! So a short time later, Disgust and the handyman, who was desperately trying to hit on her and introduced himself as Jason in a sleazy voice, arrived at Headquarters and he got to work on the console right away.

Fortunately Jason turned out to be as skilled as he claimed to be. Thanks to his expertise, the console was fixed in no time and Riley was no longer permanently stuck in raging Anger mode!

Jason wiped his brow with the back of his hand and stood back to admire his work. He assured everyone that he had carefully checked all the wiring inside the console and that the possibility of it becoming jammed again were very low.

The Emotions all let out huge sighs of relief and thanked him gratefully for his help. Before leaving, Jason gestured to the console and reminded them in a chiding tone, "This console is a very fine piece of machinery. It is the only thing that enables Emotions like yourselves to control and influence our host's behavior."

As he spoke, Jason ran his hand over the polished surface of the console fondly. His voice was full of passion as he stated, "You have to take good care of it and always treat it with respect and tenderness…"

He turned to Disgust and gave her a sleazy wink. "Just like a fine lady!"

Disgust rolled her eyes in an unimpressed fashion, but decided to keep her thoughts to herself.

Some things are just better left unsaid and her opinion of Jason and his cheesy grin was one of them…

As soon as Jason left, all the Emotions, (minus Fear who had gone back to his room complaining that he had never felt sicker in his life than he did right now) gathered around the console and watched as Riley and her parents joked and laughed about her new hairstyle together.

Joy smiled broadly as she watched Riley's Dad commenting about the red highlights in his daughter's blonde hair, saying that they made her look fierce and independent. Joy nodded in agreement, her blue eyes sparkling with pride as came to accept Riley's new look at last.

With a final nod of approval at the screen, the yellow Emotion turned and addressed the others with her usual upbeat attitude. "Okeydokey then! It looks like disaster was averted and everything worked out well in the end!"

"But from now on, we all have to be a bit more vigilant in case Riley finds herself talked into doing something she doesn't really want to do by her friends." Joy declared, fixing Anger with a scrutinizing look as she spoke.

Anger grit his teeth and glared back at her temperamentally.

 _If looks could kill…_ he wondered maliciously, the corner of his mouth turning up in a teasing sneer.

Joy ignored her red co-worker's expression and smiled at them all cheerfully again. She reached up and touched her silver-tipped hair with admiration before exclaiming, "On a lighter note, what do you all think of my new hairstyle?"

Before anyone else could respond, Anger roared in outrage. The other Emotions glanced at their red co-worker apprehensively, his recent meltdown at the console tonight still fresh in their minds.

Anger's head was glowing with flames, his eyes burning with rage as he fumed, **"I DON'T WANT TO HEAR ANOTHER WORD ABOUT HAIR! HAIR IS NOTHING BUT TROUBLE!"**

But just as soon as he said it, his flames flickered and died down slightly as he jabbed a thumb at his chest and declared proudly, "That's why I don't have any hair…and that's the way I like it!"

* * *

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

 **Out of all the Emotions, Anger is probably the one we need to learn how to control the most. I'm no expert, but I believe that Fear and Anger are the most primal Emotions. And they're not only evident in humans, but also in the animal kingdom. Every living creature experiences flight or fight at some point in life so it's safe to say that they are exhibiting Fear and Anger even if they don't appear to display other feelings, like happiness or sorrow…**

 **But even though Anger can be dangerous, we still need Anger in our lives sometimes otherwise we would be taken advantage of all the time! But it's really important that we can control him and not the other way around because he can be very destructive! If we allow Anger to control us (like what happened when he damaged the console and Riley was left feeling nothing but angry) then not only us, but also our loved ones as well as everyone and** _ **everything**_ **around us can get hurt in the process!**

 **It's good to let off some steam in short bursts every now and then (just so long as you don't direct those flames at anyone else!)**

 **So when you're feeling as frustrated and unhappy as Riley's Anger was, try to find a way to let those aggressive feelings out in a controlled and safe way…maybe you could go for a walk or do some other form of physical activity. Take a deep breath or make yourself a relaxing cup of tea. Just focus on doing something you enjoy!**

 **Maybe you find painting your nails unwinding like the Emotion in the upcoming chapter does?**

 **Also I want to say thank you to everyone who has been reading and reviewing the story so far! I'll mention you all in a personal thank you note in the final chapter when we reach it :)**

 **Svinorita.**


	4. Let's Get Cynical (Part 1)

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

 **As we all saw in the previous chapter, Riley got pretty angry, (mainly with herself for her poor decision-making.) But even though she wasn't very eager on going ahead with that makeover, she probably felt like she had to do it to impress her new friends.**

 **And I'm sure many of us have found ourselves in similar situations to Riley at some point in our lives? I'm talking about peer pressure of course! Fortunately for Riley, her case was relatively innocent and the consequences were not that severe…she actually ended up looking pretty nice with her new hairstyle and eventually her parents came to accept it and they are no longer mad at her!**

 **But for some of us, the consequences of giving in to peer pressure are far more serious. Some people are pushed into taking drugs or drinking alcohol by their friends or other even more serious things. In such cases, people sometimes forget that if what they are doing doesn't feel right, that it is okay to say No!**

 **And remember how Riley got really angry with her parents' reactions to her new look? Even though she wasn't initially very happy about her makeover herself, she felt like she had to defend her decision and she wanted her Mom and Dad to respect it!**

" _ **What's done is done! Just get over it and accept it!"**_ **She was probably thinking as she argued with her parents that night.**

 **But deep down, Riley was feeling a sense of guilt and she most likely would have been telling herself,** _ **"What was I thinking? I should have known better…"**_

 **And maybe, there was a little sarcastic voice inside her head saying,** _ **"That never would have happened on my watch!"**_

 **So having said that, I think it's time for us all to get physical…no wait! We already did that in the first chapter and Riley injured her wrist in the process!**

 **What I really meant to say was:** _ **Let's Get Cynical!**_

 **Svinorita.**

* * *

 **Chapter 4 – Let's Get Cynical! (Part 1.)**

A full week has passed since Riley got that dramatic new hairstyle at the mall and she was still struggling to accept her new look. She spent every morning staring at her short bob-style haircut with its fiery red highlights in the mirror gloomily, chanting quietly under her breath "Oh please grow back already!"

But no matter how much she prayed and begged, Riley realized that her hair was growing very slowly and she hardly noticed any changes in length from last week. At least the red streaks were gradually beginning to fade every time she took a shower, and this offered some consolation to the self-critical teen.

But despite Riley's own reservations about her new image, it quickly became apparent that her critical views were not shared by her peers…

Just about everybody at school found her makeover very stylish and chic! She even received a few flattering comments from people that ordinarily wouldn't have given her a second glance in class!

Riley ran her hand through her short hair, her eyes taking on a distant look as she recalled the reaction she evoked when she arrived at school the day immediately following her makeover…

She had walked through the schoolyard with her head down and an unshakable feeling of apprehension hanging over her like a cloud, her eyes flitting around nervously as she tried to slink off to class without drawing attention to herself.

Along the way, she was forced to go past three fashionably-dressed older girls that were standing at the top of the stairs leading into the school building, gossiping about what everyone who passed by was wearing.

Riley knew these girls were infamously known as the _"Popular Trio"_ and they had a reputation for picking on anyone who they deemed either unattractive or "fashionably-challenged."

Riley had no intention of becoming the subject of their cruel scrutiny! So she had put her head down and tried to hurry past them as quickly as possible. But just as she entered the building, she heard their ringleader, a tall attractive blonde named Jenny commenting, "Hey cool hair! It's about time you did something nice with that dull, lifeless mop on your head!"

Jenny's devoted followers; two snarky brunettes named Pamela and Amanda, sniggered and echoed in unison, "Yeah! It was way overdue!"

Riley shook her head and sighed as she gazed at her reflection in the bathroom mirror. She didn't belong to any "group" in school. Like in every school, hers had no shortage of students that fell into one of several different categories...

There was the _"Popular"_ group headed by the acid-tongued Jenny and her equally mean-tempered friends; Pamela and Amanda. Then there were the _Nerds, Sport Jocks, Quiet Achievers, Weirdoes_ and _Unique Individuals_ to name a few…

But Riley didn't fit into any one of these so-called "groups" because her personality encompassed a multitude of traits that made trying to label her into a single category very difficult! She was pretty, although nowhere near as image-centered as Jenny and her friends. But she was also smart, sporty and occasionally eccentric!

However, there was one thing that everyone who knew her had little doubt about: Riley could be a strong individual when she wanted to be!

That's one of the reasons why she became so close with Dolly recently. Dolly was very strong-minded, non-judgmental and accepting of most people. But she had zero-tolerance towards bullying as well as rude or mean behavior! She was the type of person who would not be pushed around by anyone and she had a tendency to stand up for underdogs and take them under her wing.

Dolly would accept anyone for who they are and she never made fun of other peoples' shortcomings!

Riley knew deep down that she could have said "No" to that haircut and Dolly would have been fine with it.

But maybe she needed to prove to herself that she could make decisions without her parents' approval sometimes?

So in the end, Riley gave a deep sigh and told herself, "I guess I'm just going to have to take everyone's word and if they're all saying that my hair looks good, then it's probably fine…"

XXX

Riley arrived at school today with time to spare. As usual, she found Dolly already there, sitting on a bench under a tree and texting on her phone.

Riley's face lit up upon seeing her newest best friend and she walked over to her with a happy smile. Dolly glanced up briefly at her approach and smiled back before turning her attention back to her phone.

"I'll be with you in just a moment Riles! I'm just texting my cousin over in Dublin. As usual we're whining about the miserable weather over there!" She said without pausing her frenzied texting.

Riley gave a little laugh and mouthed the words, "It's alright!"

Hearing Dolly's strong Irish accent always made her giggle. Even though Dolly had been born here, she never lost her original accent and Riley thought it sounded cool. The only trouble was when Dolly got really excited or annoyed and she talked fast...then her accent became stronger and Riley sometimes couldn't understand exactly what she was saying! But most of the time she had no problem understanding her friend and Riley loved the lilting tone of her voice.

Among the last students to arrive today were two girls in the same class as Riley named Kristy Brown and Mary Bradman.

Kristy was very skinny with frizzy flame-red hair and lots of freckles all over her face and arms.

Mary had long dark-brown hair and huge old-fashioned glasses. She also had excessive facial hair growing around her mouth and on her chin, which Riley once heard her saying to another student was caused by some kind of genetic condition.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, these two girls were always getting bullied by the _"Popular Trio"_ as well as by some sport jocks from the school's football team.

And as Riley watched them making their way towards the steps listlessly, this morning was no exception. They were both walking with their heads down, their expressions seeming to suggest that they were hoping that the earth would open up under their feet and swallow them so they could be spared from the teasing and harassment that they knew was coming any moment now…

As it turned out, they didn't have to wait long. Jenny nudged Amanda with her elbow and nodded towards the girls as they were about to walk past.

"Well, well! Here comes _Rusty Brown!"_ She sniped coldly. Amanda and Pamela both laughed at their leader's remark and high-fived each other.

Kristy slumped her shoulders, her expression filled with shame as both she and Mary tried to hurry into the building.

But before they could make it, a few of the sport jocks blocked their path. They started howling like wolves and shouting, "Run everyone! Here comes _Mary Beardman_ the werewolf!"

Riley watched the scene with despair. She felt sorry for those two girls and a part of her wanted to stand up for them. But for some reason, she couldn't bring herself to say anything in their defense…

So Riley chose to remain silent as she watched the bullying intensify. Now the footballers were pushing the girls around and trying to snatch their schoolbags from them as Jenny and her friends continued hurling verbal abuse at them.

Suddenly, Dolly looked up from her phone and stopped texting. She got up from the bench and stood beside Riley, an angry expression on her face as she glared at the _"Popular Trio"_ and yelled, "Why if it isn't Goldilocks and her Pam-Am crew!"

Riley realized that Dolly's insult was in reference to Jenny's blonde hair and Pamela and Amanda's names and she couldn't help smiling to herself. Those three girls had better watch out! She wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of Dolly's temper right now…

Jenny and her friends whirled around and stared at Dolly indignantly. Before any of them could think of a good comeback, Dolly folded her arms over her chest and sneered, "I didn't know they were casting for the movie _Mean Girls 2_ around here?!"

She gestured towards the _"Popular Trio"_ and exclaimed, "Well it must be their lucky day, because you three are perfect for the part!"

Then Dolly turned her attention to the football jocks and remarked sarcastically, "As for you boys, if I were you I'd be very worried right now! Those empty balloons sitting on top of your shoulders might make you float up, up and away!"

The footballers looked at each other in confusion and mumbled something Riley couldn't catch. Either they were struggling to wrap their tiny brains around Dolly's insult, or maybe they couldn't understand her irate Irish accent?

During the verbal altercation, Kristy and Mary managed to sneak past the bullies and were currently standing at the top of the stairs leading into the school building. They were both crying and doing their best to comfort each other as they stared at their tormentors disconsolately.

Dolly placed her hands on her hips and turned to Riley with a pleased smile on her face. But her smile faltered as she noticed the strange expression on Riley's face…

Her mouth was twisted in a distasteful sneer and her eyes were filled with disapproval as she stared fixatedly at Kristy and Mary.

A sudden pressure on her right shoulder made Riley flinch impulsively. She looked down to see Dolly's hand gripping her shoulder firmly. Riley glanced up at her friend's face and recoiled at Dolly's scrutinizing expression and the fierceness in her green eyes.

Dolly raised an eyebrow at her quizzically and ventured in a level tone, "If I didn't know you better Riley Andersen, I could have sworn I saw a look of _disgust_ pass over your face just then!"

Riley looked away uncomfortably and didn't say anything as Dolly squeezed her shoulder tightly and prompted, "But the question is who are you really disgusted by?

"Those poor girls over there?" She inquired, nodding towards Kristy and Mary at the top of the stairs.

"Or those airheaded footballers and perfect bimbos?" Dolly asked with resentment in her voice.

XXX

While this situation was unfolding at school, the atmosphere inside Headquarters was equally bleak. For over a week now, Fear had been feeling gravely ill. He was growing weaker by the day and his naturally lavender complexion had changed into a sickly shade of grayish-purple. He could hardly keep any food down and this meant that the already slender Emotion had become so thin, that many of his bones were now clearly visible under his skin.

And it seems that no matter what remedies he tried, both his own as well as whatever the other Emotions offered him, failed to improve his condition! Fear didn't know what was wrong with him, but it felt as if all the anxiety and stress he had been carrying around for years had somehow accumulated in his stomach and it was wreaking havoc on his frail system!

Only rest and the comforting quiet of his room offered him some relief from his pain and suffering. Additionally, the gentle care he received from Joy also helped lift his spirits a little…

As soon as she had found out that Fear had become sick, Joy took it upon herself to act as his special nurse. She felt it was the least she could do for her purple co-worker after the care he had given her when she had injured her ankle just over a week earlier. So she made a promise to Fear that she would look after him until he got better and she really went out of her way to make him feel as comfortable as possible during his time of need.

After a little practice, she eventually mastered how to make Fear's tea to his liking. She even persuaded him to try to eat a few bites of toast with honey despite his reluctance to eat anything lately. And after some persistent encouragement, she even managed to convince her purple co-worker to take a pro-biotic every now and then to boost his weakened immune system and restore his digestive wellbeing.

All this care and attention that Fear was receiving lately, as well as constantly being told to be quiet whenever he was in the vicinity of the sickly Emotion, was irritating Anger to a boiling point! So in order to avoid taking out his frustrations on Fear the way he did to the console last week, the cantankerous Emotion decided he needed to let off some steam away from Headquarters.

That's why Anger had taken up walking around the Mind World these past few days…out there he could be as loud and destructive as he wanted!

So with everybody else occupied one way or another, it was probably little surprise that Disgust and Sadness were both minding the console on the day that Riley witnessed the bullying incident at school. The two Emotions stood side by side and watched the incident unfolding in the schoolyard through Riley's point-of-view screen with very mixed feelings…

Disgust had her arms folded over her chest as she stared at Dolly reproachfully. "Wow…that Dolly sure has a mouth on her! Did you hear that tone of voice she used when she mentioned my name?!"

She glanced at Kristy and Mary and her face scrunched up with obvious disapproval. "I mean if I looked like either of those two girls, I would never leave my house! I would demand to be homeschooled where no one could see me!"

Sadness just gazed at the screen miserably, her already melancholic mood becoming even more depressing at the harshness of Disgust's comments.

The blue Emotion gave a deflated sigh, her sad gaze slowly shifting to her green co-worker as Disgust shook her head and continued ranting coldly, "I mean how hard is it in this day and age for people to find ways of improving their image?!"

She jabbed a finger towards Mary and remarked, "For instance, that dark-haired one should ditch those retro glasses for contact lenses and laser off that unsightly facial hair!"

The green Emotion switched her focus to Kristy and regarded her with her upper lip curled up in a sneer. "As for that other one, she could get a fake tan and a trendy haircut and I don't' know…maybe wear a hat to protect herself from the sun and reduce the appearance of those freckles!"

Sadness couldn't hold back her sorrow any longer. She sniffled loudly from beside her green co-worker and uttered, "That's not a nice thing to say Disgust! They're just ordinary girls…"

"Actually they aren't that bad looking and they probably have really nice personalities." Sadness offered gently.

She pointed towards Jenny and her friends and added gloomily, "Those pretty girls over there are mean and ugly on the inside!"

Sadness looked up at Disgust's face with hurt in her tear-filled eyes. "Do you mean to say that I'm ugly too because I wear big glasses like Mary?"

Disgust looked taken aback by her colleague's accusation. But she was naturally good at talking herself out of situations like this! Whenever she inadvertently offended someone with her comments, she could usually rely on her cunning to quickly restore favor with whoever she had upset…

So she put on her most innocent expression and placed a reassuring hand on Sadness' shoulder, her emerald-green eyes filled with sympathy as she replied, "Oh no Sadness! I wasn't referring to you in any way!"

"I was talking about them!" Disgust insisted, nodding her head briskly at the screen with a note of bitterness in her voice.

She smiled sweetly at her blue co-worker and squeezed her shoulder lightly. "You and I, we live together! We share this Mind! Of course you are not ugly!"

"But those girls…" Disgust frowned at Kristy and Mary, "If they were living in medieval times, they would probably be locked up in a tower and the keys would be thrown away!"

"Oh Disgust…if I didn't know you better, I would be very shocked." Sadness wiped her eyes with her hand and gave her friend a sad smile. "But I believe there is good in everyone…even you!"

Disgust folded her arms and glared back at Sadness defiantly.

 _What is that supposed to mean?!_ She thought sourly, narrowing her eye at Sadness snidely.

Sadness seemed undaunted by her co-worker's reproachful stare. She took a deep breath and went on gloomily, "You've heard the story of the _Ugly Duckling_ who turned into a beautiful swan?"

Disgust rolled her eyes. "Yeah…but what does that have to do with any of this?" She demanded sarcastically, gesturing towards the screen as she spoke.

Sadness nodded towards Kristy and Mary. "Maybe those two girls will become really beautiful as they get older?

She looked over at the football jocks, who were doing their best to charm Jenny and her followers and offered flatly, "And at least some of those football players might become overweight, bald or end up wearing glasses later on?"

Finally Sadness gestured to the _"Popular Trio"_ and suggested, "And some of those pretty girls will probably end up having so many plastic surgeries, that they won't even look like themselves anymore!"

Disgust snorted in amusement and countered, "I don't think that will happen Sadness…but you are entitled to your own opinion. We both are!"

Sadness balled her tiny fists and looked away from Disgust's smug expression in resignation.

She turned her back to her green co-worker and mumbled with a mixture of disappointment and irritation, "If that's the case then my opinion right now is this…if they really do make a sequel to the movie _Mean Girls_ , then not only should they cast you alongside Jenny and her friends, but you could even be their leader Disgust!"

With that, Sadness walked away to check on Joy and Fear, leaving a very stunned and incredulous Disgust in her wake at the console.

 _To Be Continued…_

* * *

 **NOTE:**

 **This chapter has to be split because just like the previous one with Anger, it would turn out too long! In fact I'd like to point out that ALL of the upcoming chapters for this story will also need to be split into two parts per Emotional scenario! (Once we're finished with Disgust, we still need to do Fear and Sadness.)**

 **I know many of you are probably wondering: how come Joy only had one chapter when everyone else is going to have two…?**

 **Don't worry all you Joy fans out there! Our cheerful yellow friend will have the last laugh (quite literally!) Since this story began with Joy taking charge of Riley's day, I have decided that it will conclude with her as well :)**

 **Just one more thing! I'd like to thank** _ **Orangebird124, Tripledent, jloew1993**_ **and** _ **RoseEmbers99**_ **for those wonderful and inspiring reviews to the previous chapters! You guys are awesome :)**

 **Svinorita.**


	5. Let's Get Cynical (Part 2)

**Chapter 5 – Let's Get Cynical (Part 2.)**

Two days have passed since Riley had witnessed the bullying incident at school and she was still feeling very conflicted with herself. No matter how hard she tried to forget the whole upsetting ordeal, Riley couldn't get the image of Kristy and Mary out of her head. She was constantly haunted by the helpless looks on their faces and their heartbroken crying as they stood at the top of the stairs while those popular girls and sport jocks teased them mercilessly.

Riley realized that those poor girls were probably subjected to endless taunts and cruelty on a daily basis and deep down she was feeling extremely guilty for not saying something to make the bullying stop. Instead, she had done nothing but stare at them judgmentally while Dolly bravely faced those bullies and stood up for Kristy and Mary.

 _Why can't I be more like that?_ Riley had wondered afterwards, her mind reeling with conflicted thoughts as she struggled to get through the rest of the school day as inconspicuously as possible.

In fact, Dolly's courage had made Riley feel so weak and insignificant that she even found herself resenting her new friend at one point.

 _Why does Dolly always have to be a hero? Can't she just mind her own business sometimes?!_ Riley thought bitterly as she watched Dolly going out of her way to protect Kristy and Mary for the remainder of that day.

This in turn had triggered a feeling of jealousy within Riley and she temporarily directed her frustration at the two bullying victims, all the while distancing herself even more from her new best friend throughout the day.

 _Why couldn't Kristy and Mary have tried a bit harder to improve their looks and blend in instead of drawing all that unwanted attention to themselves?!_ Riley had wondered spitefully.

Then Riley had experienced another feeling; self-pity. Dolly's comments had stung pretty badly and she couldn't believe that her friend had accused her of looking disgusted by Kristy and Mary's appearances!

The truth was that Riley didn't know if she had really been disgusted by Mary and Kristy, the bullies or herself! All she knew was that she felt hurt by Dolly's accusations of being insensitive so much, that by the end of the day she was avoiding her completely!

Then the following day, Dolly didn't show up at school and Riley learned from one of her teachers that she had contracted a very serious case of pneumonia. Apparently, Dolly was rushed to hospital last night in a critical state and she would be absent from school for quite a while…

Riley couldn't believe what she had heard. She hadn't even realized that Dolly was sick and apart from the occasional bout of coughing that had come over her during the previous day, Riley hadn't thought much of it. She remembered Dolly telling her one time that she occasionally suffered from mild bouts of asthma, so Riley had assumed that her coughing was linked to that.

But she never would have imagined that Dolly had actually contracted pneumonia! Riley knew that pneumonia could be very serious and she was deeply concerned about her friend's welfare.

And to make matters worse, Riley had been giving Dolly a cold shoulder ever since she had taken Kristy and Mary under her wing because she had felt jealous of the attention they were receiving! Now Dolly would be in hospital for who knew how long and Riley would have to face school without one of her closest friends…

Although Dolly had been absent for only a day, Riley already missed her dreadfully. The outspoken Irish girl had become a bit like a security blanket to Riley and she felt exposed and vulnerable at school without her.

And since Dolly was such a strong-minded individual who tended to stand up for underdogs and outcasts, it was hardly surprising that she had made quite a few enemies amongst the "Popular" crowd who considered her as some delusional vigilante that was always getting them into trouble with the school principal!

Now the "Popular Trio" was out for revenge and since Dolly wasn't there, the frustrated bullies naturally set their sights on Riley. They began deliberately avoiding her or snickering and dropping mean remarks behind her back to make her feel alienated and very uncomfortable.

As a result, Riley found herself under a lot of stress lately and she couldn't help feeling that her life had become one big mess! First she had injured her wrist and had been forced to miss several important hockey games. Then she went through that ordeal with getting a new haircut and fighting with her parents about it. And to top it all off she witnessed that awful bullying incident and now her life at school had become unbearable!

And all this stress was having a detrimental impact on her physical health as well…

Riley was starting to lose her appetite and she began struggling to get a decent night's sleep because she was constantly overthinking everything!

And this morning she was feeling exceptionally lousy! She woke up with terrible cramps in her tummy and her mouth felt as dry as cotton. Riley sat up in bed and groaned as she rubbed her face with her hands tentatively. There was a strange throbbing pain in her top lip and her whole face felt very itchy and irritated.

Riley sighed gloomily as she threw back her covers and slid out of bed reluctantly. She made her way over to the bathroom sluggishly and glanced in the mirror before uttering an ear-piercing scream of horror.

"OH MY GOD! WHAT'S HAPPENING TO ME?!"

Riley stared at her reflection in shocked disbelief, her hand trembling as she slowly reached up to touch her face. Moments later, she heard her mother's frantic footsteps coming up the stairs, followed by the sound of her worried voice as she hurried to see what had upset Riley so badly.

"Oh Riley! What's the matter sweetheart?!" Jill asked as she rushed into the bathroom to comfort her daughter.

XXX

Meanwhile inside Headquarters, Riley's Emotions were all standing around the console and watching the drama unfolding in the bathroom apprehensively. Well, all of them that is with the exception of two…

Fear was still very sick and resting up in his room. The other Emotions had never seen one of their co-workers suffering from such a debilitating illness before and by now everyone was deeply concerned about his condition. But Joy put on a brave smile and tried her best to reassure them that Fear appeared to be improving slightly…he just needed some time to get his strength back!

In addition to Fear's illness, the other Emotions were also starting to worry about Disgust. The green Emotion still hadn't emerged from her bedroom this morning and Riley would soon be getting ready to go to school.

Whatever could be keeping her so long?

Sadness had informed the others that she and Disgust had had a bit of a _disagreement_ at the console a couple of days ago, so everyone initially assumed that she was just being a bit of a diva and waiting for an apology from her blue co-worker…

But why would she be making a fuss about this now when that incident had taken place two days earlier…?

All of a sudden, a loud shriek came drifting down the hall from Disgust's room. Joy instructed Anger to stay at the console and keep an eye on Riley while she and Sadness rushed to Disgust's room to find out what was wrong with their green co-worker.

The two Emotions arrived outside her room a few seconds later, only to discover that her door was locked and that Disgust apparently had no intention of opening it.

Joy and Sadness exchanged worried looks before knocking on the door and pleading with Disgust to let them in so they could help her.

"Disgust! Are you okay? Please let us come in!" Joy demanded as she pounded on the door urgently.

Sadness buried her face in her hands and started crying remorsefully, "Oh this is all my fault! I shouldn't have called her mean and thoughtless the other day…"

"Sadness! That's not helping right now!" Joy pointed out in a controlled voice as she continued pounding on the door.

"Oh! I'm sorry." Sadness apologized guiltily.

Both Emotions gasped as they heard Disgust's outraged cry coming from within the room. "Just go away! My life is over! I can't let anyone see me like this!"

At this point, Sadness was bawling hysterically as she pounded on the door with her tiny fists and pleaded, "Please let us in Disgust! I-I'm slipping into a massive sadness spiral and I can't breathe!"

"Disgust! Open the door right now!" Joy yelled desperately. "I already have my hands full looking after Fear and now you're starting to make Sadness go sick with worry too!"

They heard a frustrated sigh coming from within the room, followed by the door unlocking. Moments later, Disgust reluctantly opened the door. Her scarf was covering the lower half of her face so that only her tear-filled eyes were visible as she met Joy and Sadness' concerned expressions.

"Don't look at me!" She warned as she turned her face away from them and allowed them to enter her room.

Sadness slumped forward at the green Emotion's feet. She reached up and grabbed at Disgust's knees as she begged pitifully, "Oh Disgust! Please forgive everything I said about you the other day!"

Disgust knelt down beside her weeping co-worker and gently put a hand on her shoulder. Her voice was shaking a little as she whispered, "No Sadness! I'm the one who should be apologizing to _you!"_

"Wh-what do you mean?" Sadness sobbed as she glanced up at Disgust's partially obscured face.

Disgust gave a despondent sigh and slowly removed her scarf from her face, revealing a very red and angry-looking rash around her mouth and on her cheeks.

Joy and Sadness both gasped in shock.

"It's hideous isn't it?" Disgust uttered as she turned her eyes to the floor in shame, tears rolling down her blotchy cheeks.

Sadness regarded her friend with pity, memories of their argument over Kristy and Mary the other day flashing through her mind.

 _Now you know how those girls feel Disgust…_

But Sadness didn't want to upset her distraught co-worker any more than she already was. So she gave her a sympathetic look and whispered gently, "It's just a rash Disgust. It will pass…"

Joy was shaking her head slowly, her blue eyes kind but lightly reprimanding as she said, "I tried to tell you so many times that you wear too much makeup Disgust! All that makeup is clogging up your pores and it's suffocating your skin! You need to let your skin breathe sometimes!"

Disgust looked up at the yellow Emotion hesitantly. Joy gave her a little smile of reassurance before continuing in an upbeat tone, "The rash should clear up on its own after a few days, but you have to keep your face makeup-free until then!"

Disgust gave a loud groan of disapproval at this piece of advice. Her makeup was a big part of who she is! How could she possibly go out there without wearing any?! Everyone is going to tease her…

But in the end she knew that Joy was right. She had aggravated her skin and putting on makeup right now would only cause the rash to become worse!

Disgust sighed and acknowledged Joy's advice with a very reluctant nod of agreement.

"I guess I have no alternative do I?" She mumbled flatly.

XXX

When Jill burst into the bathroom she found Riley sobbing as she stared at her reflection in the mirror. Her forehead and chin was covered in pimples and her top lip was sporting a rather nasty-looking cold sore...

Riley turned around slowly, her eyes searching her mother's face pleadingly as she wept, "Mom! My face looks so ugly!"

Jill drew her daughter into a comforting hug. "Oh sweetie! You're not ugly!"

She rubbed Riley's back gently and whispered, "You're still my pretty girl! You've just developed some pimples..."

Jill sighed and added sympathetically, "I know it can be distressing, but they'll disappear in time! When I was your age, I was covered in them!"

Riley gave a half-hearted laugh as Jill released her embrace and studied her daughter's face with a reassuring smile.

She gently stroked Riley's hair with one hand and said, "I've noticed that you've been under a lot of stress lately sweetheart. You haven't been eating properly for a while now and when you do, you tend to snack mainly on junk food."

Jill ran her thumb over the dark circles under Riley's eyes. "And in addition to this, you also haven't been sleeping well. All these things are slowly ruining your immune system honey and that's why you are more susceptible to breaking out in pimples now than you were before!"

Riley took a deep breath and touched her face self-consciously.

Jill noticed her distress and squeezed her shoulder in reassurance as she added, "But all these problems you're experiencing lately are just a normal part of growing up! Believe me, there will be much greater challenges you'll need to face as you get older…"

"Gee, that's nice to know Mom…" Riley commented sarcastically.

Jill chuckled and ruffled her daughter's hair playfully, causing Riley to emit a little laugh.

"But you shouldn't worry about that right now...Your father and I want our cheeky Monkey back!" Jill exclaimed as she began tickling Riley under the chin affectionately.

"Mom! Stop!" Riley protested in between giggles.

Jill laughed and gave her daughter another hug. Riley happily returned the gesture, her smile faltering slightly as she whispered into her mother's ear, "Mom? Can I please stay home today? I'm embarrassed to let the other kids see me looking like this!"

Jill patted her back soothingly, her voice gentle but serious as she whispered back, "I don't think so sweetie. Not for a few pimples."

Riley's shoulders slumped in defeat and she looked at the floor unhappily.

Jill rubbed her daughter's arm and added calmly, "You might need time off for more serious circumstances later on, so we can't have you missing school for something as minor as a pimple breakout. I mean just look at what happened to your friend Dolly!"

Riley nodded in resignation. She knew that her mother was right and she had to go to school. But she was dreading what people were going to say to her when they saw her spotty face! Would she end up getting bullied like Mary and Kristy?

Now more than ever, she wished she had Dolly there to protect her…

XXX

As Riley walked through the school gate, she immediately bumped into Jenny and her two lieutenants; Pamela and Amanda. Riley instantly saw a look a horror pass over the "Popular Trio's" faces as she put her head down and hurried past them self-consciously.

Already she could hear them snickering and gossiping behind her back and her cheeks turned bright red from humiliation. Unfortunately, she had also attracted the attentions of the same football jocks that had been bullying Kristy and Mary the other day and this time Riley found _herself_ on the receiving end of their snide remarks as they bombarded her with an endless stream of derogatory taunts...

"Hey Bumpy Face!" One player called out as Riley tried to slink past them.

"Mutant!" Another player shouted at her cruelly.

"Playdoh Face!" His friend chimed in whilst snickering evilly.

Riley felt hot tears stinging her eyes and she started to hyperventilate as she desperately looked around for a place to hide.

That's when she saw Mary and Kristy sitting on a bench in the far corner of the schoolyard, doing their best to go unnoticed by their usual tormentors. Riley started walking towards them as the "Popular Trio" and footballers continued unleashing hurtful comments at her.

At one point, she even thought that she heard the distinct snap of a picture being taken by someone's cell phone, followed by some mocking laughter from the "Popular Trio."

 _Now they're snapping pictures of me to post all over social media sites!_ Riley thought with a groan of despair. By now, her tears were falling freely and she ran from the taunting voices and spiteful laughter, her breath coming out in short sobbing gasps as she made her way over to Mary and Kristy in the corner.

The two girls glanced up uncertainly as Riley approached them and quickly averted their eyes to the ground uncomfortably. Riley hesitated for a moment before slumping down on the opposite end of the bench awkwardly.

Kristy and Mary glanced back at her in puzzlement as though they couldn't understand why she had decided to join them now, when she had obviously wanted nothing to do with them the day Dolly had offered to protect them from the bullies.

Riley sensed their confusion and remained silent as she stared fixatedly at the ground in front of her.

A few awkward moments passed before she heard Kristy comment gloomily, "So…you decided to join the Freak Club then?"

"Now you know how we feel all the time…" Mary added with a sad sigh.

Riley looked over at them slowly, her eyes full of tears as she responded guiltily, "I am so sorry about the other day. I know I should have said something earlier, but I didn't know what..."

Kristy and Mary were watching her thoughtfully, their expressions grim. Riley took a shaky breath and wiped the tears from her eyes with her sleeve as she uttered regretfully, "I guess I was too afraid of being judged myself and that's why I kept my mouth shut."

"Can you please forgive me?" She asked quietly.

To her surprise (and intense relief) Kristy nodded and answered without hesitation, "Of course we can!"

She glanced over at Mary and squeezed her hand before adding gratefully, "Your friend Dolly has been so nice to us…"

Mary nodded in agreement and said in a soft voice, "Yeah! If Dolly likes hanging out with you, then I guess you're not so bad yourself…"

Riley smiled slowly and moved a little closer to the two girls. "Thank you! From now on, I promise I'll always be nice to you and treat you as friends."

Mary and Kristy smiled back at her timidly.

"That's very kind of you and thanks for the apology." Kristy said appreciatively.

"Sometimes in order to understand how others feel, you have to walk in their shoes." Mary added with a sad smile.

Riley waited with her new friends until the bell rang for first period. Then the three of them walked into the school building, their arms resting on each other's shoulders as they prepared to face the long school day together.

XXX

Meanwhile, Joy and Sadness were still comforting Disgust in her room. With some patience and a lot of encouragement, they finally managed to convince Disgust that it wasn't the end of the world…her rash will eventually disappear and she will once again look as pretty as she did before!

With a final groan of protest, Disgust agreed that she would _try_ to avoid her makeup kit for a day or two and hopefully everything will return to normal. She even began to feel a little ashamed of those shallow comments she made at Kristy and Mary's appearances the other day and for influencing Riley's standoffish attitude towards them.

 _It must be really awful to live under constant scrutiny every day!_ Disgust thought with a shudder.

 _Thank goodness my rash problem is only temporary…_

Disgust decided that she should try to be a little bit more careful about how she expresses her "opinions" from now on. After all, words can be a lot more hurtful than physical pain sometimes and this incident had really opened her eyes to the way careless comments can destroy people's lives!

 _But I still have every right to think whatever I want don't I?_ Disgust mused as a sly smile slowly spread across her puffy, red face.

 _After all, what I_ _don't_ _say can't hurt anyone right…?_

All of a sudden, Anger's scream of outrage reverberated down the hall and the three Emotions gasped in unison. They exchanged nervous looks before all three hurried out of Disgust's room to see what was going on downstairs.

"JOY! Come down here right now!" Anger shouted with a mixture of shock and irritation.

The three female Emotions finally reached the main room where they found Anger standing near the ramp with an annoyed look on his face.

"Anger! What's wrong?" Joy asked as she came to a halt beside her red co-worker.

Anger huffed and pointed towards the console crossly, his head beginning to steam as he grumbled, _"That_ is the problem! I left the room for a few minutes to get some heartburn tablets and this is what I found when I returned…"

Joy, Sadness and Disgust all looked to where Anger was pointing and the three of them gave a collective gasp of shock at what they saw...

Fear was standing at the console. He was swaying from side to side and using his arms to support himself against the control panel, his head hanging low and his breath sounding shallow and labored as he pressed some buttons weakly.

As Joy and the others slowly approached him, Fear glanced up briefly and everyone was taken aback by the ashen gray appearance of his face. He looked dreadful! His eyes were droopy and bloodshot and his axon hung limply at the back of his neck. He was constantly shivering and he didn't even appear to acknowledge their presences as he slowly turned his attention back to the console and resumed pushing buttons.

"Oh my goodness…Fear!" Sadness uttered in a shocked whisper. Tears had started to form in the corners of her eyes as she stared at her purple co-worker in disbelief.

Anger grunted in annoyance and said, "Beanpole has no right to be at the console in that sorry state! Look at him! He can barely stand without leaning against something for support! He shouldn't be controlling Riley right now!"

Anger took a step towards the purple Emotion and declared harshly, "He's probably going to make a mess out of her day!"

Fear gave no indication that he had heard Anger's complaint. He remained absorbed in his task as he continued pressing buttons on the console as though the other Emotions were not even there.

Anger growled in frustration, his head beginning to glow orange as flames threatened to erupt at any second. But before he could open his mouth to protest some more, he felt a hand touching his shoulder.

The red Emotion whirled around peevishly and saw that Disgust was looking down at him sadly, her dainty green hand resting on his shoulder as she said quietly, "Anger, I don't think anyone could make a bigger mess of Riley's day than the two of us did when we were in charge of her…"

She trailed off as she noticed the stunned look on Anger's face and she raised an eyebrow at him quizzically.

"What?" She snapped impatiently.

Anger snorted in bemusement as he studied her blotchy red face. "What happened to your face? You look almost redder than me!"

Disgust growled in indignation and pushed her red co-worker away as she hissed, "Don't you dare mock me Blockhead, or you'll regret it!"

"Hey! Cut it out you two!" Joy reprimanded without taking her eyes off the monitor.

She and Sadness were both staring at the screen and watching Riley interacting with Kristy and Mary. The three girls were now sitting in class together and although Riley appeared to be a little nervous, she was trying to engage in some friendly conversation with them. Kristy and Mary both had sad smiles on their faces as they listened to their new friend with empathy.

Fear glanced up at the screen and smiled weakly as he ceased pushing buttons. Suddenly he felt someone wrapping their arms around his frail body. He looked up at Joy's grateful face as she gently drew him into a hug.

"Oh Fear! You helped Riley do the right thing!" She praised softly.

Joy glanced up at the screen again and smiled in approval as she watched Riley talking with her new friends.

"You helped Riley realize that she shouldn't be judgmental and criticizing of others if she doesn't want other people to be critical of her!" Joy said as she looked into Fear's tired eyes thankfully.

Fear smiled faintly in acknowledgement and nodded without saying a word. He was so weak that he didn't have much energy to talk right now…

But he wanted the others to see that no matter how sick he was, he would always be there for Riley when she needed him!

Fear felt a soft tap on his right arm and he glanced down to see Sadness looking up at him with a genuine smile of appreciation on her face.

"Thank you Fear. I don't know what Riley would have done without you…" She whispered softly.

Fear gave the blue Emotion a modest smile and raised his hand weakly as he made a trembling thumbs up gesture.

* * *

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

 **We are all different and that's what makes us valuable and special! If we were all the same, then the world would be a very boring place so it's important we all embrace our individuality! That is why we should also embrace each other's uniqueness instead of ridiculing things that make a person special…**

 **Sometimes we need to look at ourselves in the mirror to learn how to become a lot more accepting of other people's flaws. We shouldn't be green with envy because it brings about nothing but hurt and disappointment to ourselves as well as those it's aimed at!**

 **In my opinion, bullying is a big No-No! It's hurtful and destructive and creates a vicious cycle not only to the person being bullied, but also to the bully themselves! It does nothing but bring misery, pain and destroys lives! There are no winners or losers in it…everybody ends up losing in the end. And if we judge others, we can expect to be judged in return!**

 **That opens the door to insecurity and worry…**

 **So remember, always try to be kind to yourselves and those around you :)**

 **Svinorita.**


	6. The Worrying Kind (Part 1)

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

 **Ignorance is NOT bliss…if you try to ignore something, it won't always go away! As you saw in the previous chapter, Riley wasn't entirely ignorant of the bullying that was happening to her schoolmates, but she was rather conflicted about it. She probably chose to remain silent and not do a thing to help because she doubted herself. She told herself that she wasn't strong enough to stand up to those bullies and therefore she made herself believe that she wouldn't have been able to change a thing :(**

 **I'm sure many of us have felt like that at some point in our lives. But at the end of the day, there is always something we could have done differently! Even if we don't have the courage to speak up when we see something that we know isn't right, maybe we can try to help in other ways? We could try to offer comfort to those in need or just listen to them when they need someone to talk to, because we never know what tomorrow might bring…**

 **So remember: if you do the moral crime, you may end up doing the time and paying the fine! And that brings us to the worrying kind!**

 **Svinorita.**

* * *

 **Chapter 6 – The Worrying Kind (Part 1.)**

Fear had pulled up a chair to the console and was currently sitting in front of the controls lethargically. The other Emotions stood around him in a half-circle, watching their purple co-worker with worried expressions as he drew in one shallow raspy breath after another. They were still terribly shocked at Fear's appearance: he was extremely emaciated and his face looked almost gray, and it soon became apparent that he was so weak, he was even struggling to breathe properly!

The other Emotions were feeling powerless to help their stricken co-worker as they watched his condition deteriorate with every passing hour.

Sadness' lips were quivering and silent tears rolled down her cheeks as she heard Joy saying in a shaky voice beside her, "Oh Fear! You came to the console just in time to help Riley…"

Joy reached out a hand and touched Fear's trembling shoulder as gently as she could. A sad smile formed on her usually cheerful face as she offered soothingly, "But now you really should go back to your room and rest. You're still not strong enough to resume your duties at the console…"

Joy trailed off as she noticed the hurt look in Fear's sunken eyes. The purple Emotion took a deep shuddering breath and spoke with great difficulty.

"No Joy. I need to be here…" He protested weakly.

Fear looked up at the monitor. Tears appeared in the corners of his eyes as he croaked, "I-I've neglected Riley long enough!"

He balled his hand into a fist and screwed his eyes shut tightly, his voice suddenly taking on an unmistakably frustrated edge. "What do I need to rest for anyway?! I've been doing nothing but resting for over a week and I'm not getting any better! I'm not tired and I can't sleep anymore!"

The other Emotions exchanged worried looks as Fear let out a deflated sigh. He opened his eyes and shook his head sadly. "The more I stay in my room, the more I overthink and worry about everything! I can't switch off! It's like there's a constant battle going on inside me..."

He slowly turned his head and looked at his co-workers with pleading eyes. "I need to be here! Riley has been going through so much lately and she needs all of us to help her get through this!"

By now, Sadness was crying uncontrollably. Joy was rubbing her back with one hand and trying her best to console her. Fear sighed in exhaustion and slumped over the controls as he felt the last of his strength abandoning him.

Anger and Disgust exchanged guilty looks as the same thought crossed their minds simultaneously: they both felt responsible for some of the mess Riley currently found herself in. Neither had intended to cause any harm but they had allowed things to get out of hand and now everyone was paying the price for their negligence!

Both Emotions decided that they needed some time alone in their rooms to think about what they'd done and Disgust was the first to voice her thoughts.

The green Emotion avoided making eye-contact with any of her co-workers (especially Fear, whom she felt she had contributed to his illness by causing Riley all that psychological stress in her school life) and announced hesitantly, "Hey guys? I think I'd like to go to my room for a while if you don't mind…"

Joy and Sadness looked at their green co-worker thoughtfully. Disgust's expression was filled with remorse as she added quietly, "I'd like to give you all some space while I think about my recent actions and poor decisions."

Without waiting for an answer, Disgust turned to go. But she had barely taken two steps when she heard Anger's regret-laden voice saying, "If you don't mind, I'd like to be excused too. I need to rethink how I conduct myself around Riley and how my quick temper can have a profound impact on her and others around her…"

Joy nodded in understanding. Her voice was gentle and sympathetic as she addressed both Anger and Disgust. "It's okay guys. We all need some time alone to think sometimes…"

Both Emotions glanced up at their leader hesitantly. Joy gave them a reassuring smile and said, "Take as much time off as you need and remember guys…we all make mistakes sometimes so don't beat yourselves up over it!"

Joy glanced over at Fear sadly and quoted him, "We will find a way to help Riley get through this together!"

Anger and Disgust nodded uncertainly and thanked Joy for her understanding before heading up the ramp to their rooms.

Joy was watching them leave when all of a sudden, she heard Fear whispering to her weakly. "Joy? You look exhausted."

The yellow Emotion turned around and saw Fear smiling at her sympathetically. "Why don't you go and lie down for a while? I can stay here and watch over Riley…"

Before he could finish what he was saying, Joy interrupted him in a gentle but deeply concerned voice. "Oh Fear! I can't leave you at the console in your weakened state all by yourself! What if you need something and no one is around to help?"

"It's okay Joy. He won't be alone…" Sadness offered from beside the console in a melancholy whisper.

Joy looked at her blue co-worker questioningly.

Sadness nodded towards the monitor. "I can't sleep at the moment anyway. There's too much sorrow going on in Riley's life right now and I should stay nearby in case she needs to feel sad." She pointed out softly.

Joy gave a reluctant sigh. She nodded slowly and admitted in a tired-sounding voice, "Well truth be told, I _am_ quite exhausted. Too much has been going on lately with Fear becoming sick on top of all the challenges that have popped up in Riley's life, and I guess I am feeling a little overwhelmed by it all…"

Fear was looking at his yellow co-worker with a guilty expression on his gaunt face and Joy offered him a reassuring smile. "But if it's okay with you two, I'd like to stay with you for a while all the same?"

Sadness and Fear nodded in consent and together with Joy, the three Emotions settled down at the console, ready to guide their girl through whatever challenge came her way next…

XXX

It was 4 AM in the Andersen household and there was a light on in the kitchen. Bill was unable to sleep and he decided to make himself some chamomile tea to help him relax and take his mind off the physical discomfort that has been keeping him up these past few nights...

Bill turned the kitchen radio on and set the volume to very low as he went about his task while listening to the morning news quietly. It was still very early in the morning and he didn't want to wake up his wife and daughter.

For almost a week now, Bill hadn't been feeling quite right. He had no idea what was wrong with him, but he _did_ know that his symptoms had been growing steadily worse over the past couple of days. Even so, he still hadn't said anything about it to Jill and Riley because he didn't want to cause them any worry.

So he didn't tell them about the frequent headaches and dizzy spells that were troubling him lately or the sharp stabbing pain that appeared in his lower abdomen with increasing regularity and intensity...

Bill couldn't explain what had brought on all these symptoms when he had been feeling perfectly fine less than a week ago, but he attributed most of it to stress. There had been a lot of tension around him lately (largely due to all the drama that was going on in Riley's life these past few weeks) and this in turn, had led to him and Jill arguing more frequently.

Then Bill started thinking about how his little girl is growing up so fast, and as he observed the recent changes in her behavior, he realized that things would probably get more intense as Riley matures…

All that worrying was beginning to disrupt his sleeping patterns and not long afterwards, Bill started losing his appetite to the point that he began eating only once a day. He didn't think much of his condition at first. But gradually he felt his panic begin to rise with each passing day and now Bill was starting to feel afraid not only for his wellbeing, but also how all this could affect his family.

 _What if something is seriously wrong with me?_ Bill thought to himself as he poured some boiling water into a mug and stirred his tea.

 _What's going to happen to Riley and Jill if I am unable to look after them? Riley is still so young…_

Bill made a silent resolve to get all his affairs in order just in case something were to happen to him.

But first things first…

 _Maybe it's time I pay Doctor Mikkelsen a visit and get to the bottom of my mysterious symptoms._ Bill told himself decisively.

 _Is all of this really just a result of too much stress and tension? Or is it something far more serious…?_

Bill was just about to add a spoonful of honey into his tea when a soft voice spoke from behind him and startled him so badly, that he almost dropped his mug!

"Daddy? What's wrong?"

Bill turned around and saw Riley standing in the kitchen doorway dressed in her bunny pajamas. She was rubbing her eyes with one hand and as Bill looked at her more closely, he noticed the dark circles underneath her eyes which suggested she hadn't been sleeping properly for a while. Bill's heart filled with apprehension as he watched her carefully…she looked so small and vulnerable!

He took a deep breath and swallowed back his anxiety as he answered her question in a quiet whisper. "Oh nothing's wrong Monkey!"

"Did I wake you up?" He asked, walking up to his daughter and ruffling her hair affectionately. "I'm sorry sweetheart. I couldn't sleep, that's all…"

"I can't sleep either." Riley replied with a big yawn. "Actually, I haven't been able to sleep well for some time Dad…"

"And it's probably because of all these _disasters_ that have been happening to me lately!" Riley said with a note of frustration in her voice. "First I was silly enough to injure my wrist! Then for some reason, I went ahead and changed my hairstyle even though I knew I shouldn't have! Not long after that, Dolly got sick! And then I found out that tomorrow I have this stupid math test that I'm completely unprepared for and lately school has become such an unpleasant place to be!"

Riley had worked herself up and she was breathing heavily. Her expression looked grim as she added miserably, "When I saw Kristy and Mary getting bullied last week, it really opened my eyes to how many things are wrong with us teenagers! We hardly ever talk to our friends anymore because everyone is too busy glued to their phones! Then there are people who are so image-obsessed that they never have time for anyone but themselves…"

Riley trailed off and shook her head sadly as all those thoughts that were troubling her came spilling forth. Why was she even bringing this up now? She didn't have to bombard her Dad with all that teenage melodrama at 4 in the morning!

But to her surprise, she felt her father's hand squeezing her shoulder and she glanced up to see his deep brown eyes full of sympathy as he nodded in understanding.

"I know sweetie…" Bill offered softly. "It's called growing pains and I can assure you that every generation has their cross to bear!"

Riley regarded her father with a confused look. Bill smiled and stroked her cheek fondly as he joked, "I think out of all that you've just told me, the most important thing is to get you ready for that math test!"

"Dad…" Riley whined in protest. But a tiny smile crept across her face and she knew that her father was right.

Bill smiled back teasingly and started to say, "Believe me, you must…"

Suddenly, Bill stopped speaking abruptly. A pained expression appeared on his face as he inhaled sharply and clutched at his tummy with both hands.

Riley threw her arms around his shoulders and hugged him tightly. Her voice rose in panic as she exclaimed shrilly, "Daddy! What's wrong with you?! Y-you're scaring me!"

Bill put on a brave smile and tried to assure her jokingly, "Oh it's nothing to worry about sweetie…it's probably just gas…"

"Dad! You're not telling the truth!" Riley argued in a trembling voice.

Tears started flowing from her eyes and she hugged her Dad more tightly as she cried into his shoulder. "I've been acting so selfish lately and just thinking about my own problems! I didn't even stop to think about how you and Mom have been feeling all this time!"

Riley gave a loud sob and wiped her eyes with her sleeve. She gazed at her Dad's face and admitted, "I should have noticed earlier that there was something different about you…but I did see you holding your tummy often and you haven't been eating properly for days now!"

"I was just so angry and disgusted with myself that I didn't even bother to think how all of this has been affecting you and Mom…" Riley felt more tears stinging her eyes as she kissed her Dad on the cheek and held him in a tight embrace.

"I am so scared right now Dad! You have to promise me that you'll go see Doctor Mikkelsen tomorrow!" Riley buried her face into her Dad's shoulder and allowed her tears to fall freely.

"Oh sweetie…Shhh! I promise I'll go to the doctor first thing tomorrow if it will make you feel better." Bill crooned as he held Riley in his embrace and kissed the top of her head reassuringly.

Bill and Riley were so busy trying to comfort one another that neither of them realized that Jill was standing in the doorway until she spoke up in a deeply concerned voice. "What is this I hear? Who's sick?! You two are really freaking me out with all this scary talk!"

Riley ran to her mother and threw herself into her arms. "Mom! Something's wrong with Dad! H-he's sick!" She stuttered through her tears.

Panic suddenly appeared on Jill's face and she stared at her husband in shock. "Bill honey! Tell me what's wrong!"

Bill offered her a nervous smile. "Ah! It's probably nothing to worry about Jilly!" He suggested uncertainly.

He winced and grabbed at his belly again as another bout of pain stabbed at his lower abdomen. "I just have a bit of a stomach ache, that's all…"

"That's all you say?!" Jill shook her head in exasperation.

"You are definitely going to see Doctor Mikkelsen tomorrow and that's an order! I am going to make an appointment for you as soon as the clinic opens and I will tell them that it's an emergency!" She stated adamantly.

Bill gave a defeated sigh and nodded solemnly. "I guess that settles it then! I'm going to have to see the doctor whether I want to or not…"

He chuckled quietly before adding with a small smile, "But right now my dear girls, I have made myself this lovely mug of chamomile tea and it has turned cold. I guess I'll have to make myself another now and while I'm at it, I could make some for both of you as well!"

"Let's all just stop worrying and try to relax a little okay?" Bill suggested hopefully.

"Okay Dad." Riley replied with a weak smile.

"Sounds like a good idea honey." Jill added with as much conviction as she could manage.

They watched silently as Bill started preparing some tea for the three of them, and although they tried to push the worrying thoughts out of their minds, both Riley and Jill were looking anything but relaxed…

XXX

Back in Headquarters, Joy was looking equally panic-stricken after witnessing the drama with Bill in the kitchen.

"How am I supposed to go to bed now?!" Joy groaned hopelessly. She was standing beside Sadness at the console and cradling her head in her hands.

Meanwhile, Sadness and Fear were both pressing buttons frantically, making the console glow blue and purple at the same time.

"What is happening around here?! Why is everything in Riley's life falling apart lately?!" Joy wondered out loud miserably.

Sadness was sobbing loudly as she continued pushing buttons out of desperation. "I know what's happening…" She wailed without glancing at Joy, tears flowing freely down her chubby blue face.

"Everyone is caught in a sadness spiral! Sometimes everything just gets too much…" Sadness trailed off as she slumped over the controls and cried inconsolably.

Fear raised his head weakly and gave his blue co-worker a pitying look. His whole body was trembling as he fought to restrain his own rising panic (either that, or he was feeling seriously cold as a result of his illness…)

With great difficulty, the frail Emotion uttered in a shaky voice, "They're probably all thinking about the worst case scenario and scaring themselves even more in the process…"

He made a sound somewhere between a sigh and a laugh as the irony of that hit him like a punch in the face. "I should know what that's like! I'm no better!"

Joy and Sadness were looking at their purple co-worker cautiously. Fear shook his head and exclaimed hysterically, "All that stress and tension is affecting Bill's health just like it's been affecting mine! We all need to learn how to switch off and let go of our worries sometimes because if we don't, then something is going to give!"

At some point during his speech, Fear had eased himself out of his chair and he was currently on his feet, steadying himself with his arms splayed out against the console as he turned to face Joy and Sadness with a determined look on his pale face.

He gave them a weak smile and promised solemnly, "We will help Riley get through these hardships like we have always done, and one day it'll all be behind us and everything will hopefully return to normal for all of us!"

Suddenly Fear felt his legs beginning to buckle beneath him and it took every last ounce of his strength to stop himself from falling. He gripped the edge of the console tightly and somehow managed to keep himself upright for the time being.

But he already knew what was coming and he was dreading it! His heart was beating very fast and he was beginning to feel dangerously lightheaded as exhaustion settled over him like a thick fog.

He knew it was only a matter of time before he lost consciousness, but Fear was determined to try and stay awake at all costs. Riley needed him now more than ever and he couldn't fail her again!

Luckily, Joy had her back turned to him as she stared the monitor, so she didn't notice his desperate and feeble attempt to try to stay on his feet.

"Oh not hopefully…we are _definitely_ going to fix this!" Joy said decisively, gazing at the monitor with renewed determination. "It all started with me when I allowed Riley to get too carried away in her excitement that day she was goofing around with her Dad and everything else snowballed from there!"

Joy gave a humorless chuckle, her eyes still glued to the screen as she added, "I think Anger and Disgust are both starting to acknowledge how their actions impacted on Riley's decisions recently, just as I have recognized my own mistakes!"

She began pacing in front of the monitor, her back still turned to her two co-workers so she was oblivious to the situation unfolding behind her as she emphasized, "You know what they say guys? Everything is good in moderation! Through our mistakes, we are finally beginning to realize the importance of this message…"

Suddenly, Sadness gave a loud gasp of shock, followed by a frantic, "Oh no…!" and Joy was instantly brought back to reality.

"Sadness? Wha…" She turned around and her blue eyes widened in panic as she saw Fear lying in an unconscious heap on the floor beside the console.

His face was frozen in an expression of anguish as he finally lost his battle to stay conscious for Riley…

 _To Be Continued…_


	7. The Worrying Kind (Part 2)

**Chapter 7 – The Worrying Kind (Part 2.)**

"Fear! No!" Joy exclaimed worriedly. Fear had fainted beside the console and Joy was leaning over his unconscious body, shaking his shoulders vigorously and calling his name as she desperately tried to revive him.

"Joy! Stop shaking him! Sadness sobbed forlornly next to her yellow co-worker.

"You might hurt him…" She reached out and placed her hand on Joy's arm in a restraining gesture.

Joy ceased shaking Fear. Her blue eyes were filled with desperation as she turned and looked at Sadness despairingly. Sadness had tears rolling down her face and her hand squeezed Joy's arm in sympathy. She wanted Joy to know that she was just as worried about Fear as her, but trying to shake him awake was not going to help their friend right now…

"Hey! What's going on down here?!" A grumpy voice demanded from behind the two panic-stricken Emotions.

Joy and Sadness turned in the direction of the voice simultaneously. They saw Anger marching towards them with a big frown on his face, Disgust following closely behind him looking rather bemused. Apparently, both Emotions had come out of their rooms to investigate what all the yelling and commotion downstairs was about.

Before either Joy or Sadness could explain, the other two Emotions saw Fear lying very still and unresponsive near the console.

"What happened in here?!" Anger and Disgust gasped in unison. Their expressions suddenly became very concerned as they stared at their fallen co-worker in disbelief.

"I don't know! One minute he was standing at the console telling us how he thought Bill had made himself sick from worrying too much!" Joy informed them in a panicky voice.

She was on the verge of tears as she pointed to Fear and added, "I just turned my back on him for a few seconds and Fear collapsed!"

Upon hearing this, Disgust ran out of the room without saying a word and returned a short time later carrying a small bottle of smelling salts.

"I got these from Fear's room." The green Emotion panted as she held out the bottle for the others to see. "A couple of times in the past when I felt like I was going to throw up, Fear insisted on putting these smelling salts under my nose and they always helped clear up my nausea."

Disgust saw the puzzled looks on their faces and rolled her eyes impatiently. "I remember he also mentioned something about them being useful for arousing consciousness as well…"

"I guess it's worth a try…" Joy whispered. She bit her lip and threw a worried glance at her purple co-worker.

Disgust nodded. Then she looked at Sadness. Her voice was serious as she instructed her blue co-worker solemnly, "Sadness, can you lift up Fear's head while I hold the smelling salts under his nose?"

"Okay." Sadness replied glumly. She knelt down beside Fear and gently slid her hands behind his head, lifting it slightly off the ground as Disgust positioned the bottle under his nose. Joy and Anger stood nearby, watching and waiting in apprehension to see if Fear would regain consciousness.

Everyone held their breaths and counted the seconds ticking by, waiting for any signs of life from their purple co-worker. A few tense minutes passed without any reaction from Fear before they noticed his nose twitch ever so slightly as he caught the scent of the smelling salts. Then he moaned and started to cough as his eyes slowly fluttered open.

Fear blinked and stared at the relieved faces of his co-workers in confusion.

"Uh…what happened...?" The purple Emotion croaked weakly. He glanced at the smelling salts in Disgust's hand and his eyes widened in realization. Wincing from pain, he rubbed his head with one hand and slowly eased himself into a sitting position, the effort almost causing him to pass out again as his frail body struggled to find the strength to keep him conscious.

"What happened is you're very sick and I told you to stay in bed!" Joy reminded him in a chiding tone, her arms folded over her chest.

All of a sudden, she felt Anger's hand on her shoulder. "Joy, not now."

Joy stared at the red Emotion questioningly.

"If you don't mind, I think you should go and make some tea for all of us…" Anger suggested and started pushing her rather forcefully towards the kitchen.

Joy was about to protest, but thought better of it. There was no point starting an argument with Anger because once he made up his mind about something, he wasn't going to change it no matter how much she or any of the others protested…

Sighing in resignation, Joy nodded and went into the kitchen to do as Anger had instructed.

Sadness watched her yellow co-worker disappear into the kitchen gloomily. She was stroking Fear's hand gently and she glanced up at his face sadly.

"Oh Fear! Don't ever do that to us again…" The blue Emotion whispered in a trembling voice.

Anger grunted in agreement. He stepped closer to Fear and stated gruffly, "What happened buddy, is that you've made yourself sick because you worry about everything too much! Now you've gotten so bad that you're starting to faint on the job!"

Fear was looking at the floor guiltily. Even though it was in his nature to worry, he knew Anger was right and he felt terrible for allowing himself to let it get to this stage. He was practically killing himself from stressing over every aspect of Riley's life that he couldn't control!

He needed to pull himself together before it was too late…

XXX

While the Emotions were trying to figure out how to help Fear, Riley was getting ready to go to school. A few minutes prior to this, Bill declared that he was feeling a little better and although both Riley and Jill were still very concerned about him, he had put on a reassuring smile and told them that it was probably just anxiety and stress taking their toll on his body lately and he would be fine.

In fact, Bill even managed to convince his wife (although it did take quite a lot of persuading) to wait awhile before making that doctor's appointment for him.

"I promise that I'll go to the doctor if I start experiencing pain again, but I'm feeling a bit better now and I see no reason to overreact." Bill explained as he kissed Riley on the forehead just as she was about to leave for school.

Seeing Riley's glum expression, Bill ruffled her hair playfully and whispered, "Don't worry about me sweetheart. Just try to concentrate on that math test you were telling me about earlier and have a good day at school.

He smiled at her warmly and added, "If you do well and pass all your tests, we can go out for ice cream after school!"

Riley gave her Dad a weak smile and said goodbye to her parents before heading out the front door and making her way to school in a somber mood. No matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't stop worrying about her Dad.

Riley hadn't mentioned it to her parents, but she was having nightmares involving her Dad for a few nights now and after witnessing that incident in the kitchen this morning, she felt like her dreams were trying to tell her something…

It almost felt as if they were some sort of dire warning about what was to come and they chilled Riley to her very core.

In her dreams, Riley saw her Dad lying listlessly in a hospital bed. He was hooked up to many different machines monitoring his vital signs and he appeared to be in a coma. Riley saw her mother and herself sitting next to Bill's bed and both of them were crying as they held hands and watched him lying there helpless and unresponsive…

Riley shook her head as she tried to force the disturbing images out of her mind. It was just a stupid nightmare! Her Dad was going to be fine! He told her himself that he was feeling better and she desperately wanted to believe him.

 _Besides, since when do nightmares ever foretell something that's going to happen in real life?! They're not real…_ Riley tried to convince herself uncertainly as she walked to school full of apprehension about what today would bring…

XXX

Back in Headquarters, Joy emerged from the kitchen carrying a serving tray laden with five steaming mugs of tea and a plate with two pancakes. One of the pancakes was smothered in honey while the other had what appeared to be raspberry jam spread over it.

"Here you are guys. I've made some tea for all of us…" Joy said as she carefully laid the serving tray on the floor beside the console. Then she took the plate with the two pancakes and offered it to Fear, who was now seated on the sofa.

"Have some of these Fear. They were left over from breakfast this morning." Joy explained as she handed him the plate with a little smile of encouragement.

Fear stared at the plate of pancakes with a queasy look on his face. He glanced up at Joy and stuttered uneasily, "But what about the rest of you guys? There's only two…"

"We've already eaten ours earlier." Anger stated flatly. But even as he said it, the red Emotion couldn't help staring at that plate with hungry eyes.

Fear looked at his co-workers apologetically and pushed the plate away slowly. "I-I can't eat right now…my stomach hurts and I'm afraid that if I eat them, I'll get sick again…"

Anger crossed his arms and glared at his purple co-worker defiantly. "You have to eat and that's final!"

The red Emotion gestured to the plate and declared, "I'm going to stand right here and make sure you have those because you've barely eaten anything for over a week and this is the result!"

Fear sighed and looked away uncomfortably.

Anger took a menacing step forward, his voice sounding dangerously level. "You don't want me to force feed you do ya?!"

Fear gave an instinctive yelp and started shaking nervously, his face turning a shade lighter as he stared at Anger with terrified eyes.

Anger chuckled and shook his head. A teasing smile appeared on his face as he tried to reassure the traumatized Emotion. "Hey! I'm just kidding buddy!"

Fear's body relaxed a little at this, but he was still looking at Anger distrustfully.

Anger sighed. His voice turned serious as he confessed, "I know that I give you a hard time every now and then, but we are all in this mind together and I want you to know that I'll do anything to protect you guys…"

He glanced truthfully at the other three Emotions. "And that means _all_ of you!"

Then he turned back to Fear and placed a hand on his shoulder, squeezing it gently in encouragement. "You need to get your strength back buddy, okay?"

Fear nodded wordlessly and sighed in defeat. He tore off a small piece from one of the pancakes with his fingers and hesitated before putting it in his mouth and chewing slowly. He kept worrying that he would feel sick if he tried to eat, but to his surprise as soon as he swallowed that first bite, he found himself reaching for another with more eagerness. It had been days since he last ate and even though his stomach wasn't feeling great, he was very hungry and those pancakes tasted so good…

The other Emotions busied themselves at the console while Fear ate and after a few minutes, he had eaten most of the pancakes and drank his tea. He was still feeling very weak but the food seemed to revive him a little and the others noticed a bit of color had returned to his formally pale face.

Joy looked at the purple Emotion thoughtfully. "What is happening to you Fear? I've never seen you like this before…" She asked in a voice that was gentle but full of concern.

Fear made a wheezing sound in the back of his throat that was a cross between a snort and a sigh. "Come on Guys! Can't you see what's been happening to Riley lately?!"

He gestured at the monitor and began ranting in a panicky voice. "It's all my fault! I didn't stop her from having that haircut! I should have made her do something about that bullying incident in school! I didn't stop her from worrying about Bill and I didn't stop Bill from getting sick…"

"Whoa! Hold it right there!" Anger thundered as he made a timeout sign with his hands. "Give _us_ some credit for those mishaps too!"

Fear shot his red co-worker a puzzled look. Anger snorted and jabbed a thumb at his own chest as he stated, "The disaster with Riley's hair makeover is all on me!"

Anger indicated to Disgust with a curt nod. Without taking his eyes off Fear, he grumbled, "Disgust can take some of the credit for the bullying fiasco..."

Disgust looked like she was about to protest. But just as Joy had done earlier, she seemed to reconsider as she weighed up her odds of winning that argument...

Ignoring the daggers Disgust was glaring at him, Anger continued his lecture undeterred. "And Riley would still worry about her Dad with or without your help! They love each other and it's only natural for her to worry about her Dad's health!"

The red Emotion waved his stubby arms in exasperation and declared, "It's not your fault that Bill got sick Fear! He's getting older and that means he's becoming more susceptible to health problems than when he was younger!"

"There's nothing any of us can do about that…" Anger glanced at the others with a regretful expression on his red face.

An uncomfortable silence descended over Headquarters as everyone thought carefully about what Anger had said. Finally, Disgust nodded slowly in acceptance and regarded her red co-worker with a look of genuine respect.

"That was actually very well said Anger…"

"I've gotta say that I'm impressed!" The green Emotion admitted with only the tiniest hint of sarcasm in her voice.

Anger glared at her indignantly. The top of his head was beginning to steam and he ground his teeth as he watched Disgust looking all smug.

Suddenly, Joy cleared her throat to get everyone's attention. As soon as the others were all looking at her, she nodded towards Fear and suggested quietly, "Maybe we should help Fear up to his room now so he can get some rest…?"

"No, just leave him here." Sadness interrupted in a melancholy whisper.

Joy gazed at her blue co-worker thoughtfully.

Sadness shrugged and glanced at Fear timidly before venturing, "He looks comfortable here and I think he should be allowed to stay wherever he wants to…"

Fear smiled at the blue Emotion gratefully. "You're right Sadness, and right now there's nowhere else I'd rather be."

XXX

Riley arrived at school early as usual. As she made her way through the schoolyard, she saw her two new friends; Mary and Kristy sitting on a bench in the corner and she went over to say hello. She walked up to them slowly and just as she was about to greet them, Kristy immediately noticed there was something a little off about her today…

"Riley? Are you feeling okay? You look as though you haven't slept for days…" Kristy asked with concern.

Riley stopped in front of the two girls and looked down tiredly.

"You have very dark circles under your eyes and I've noticed that you've lost weight." Kristy observed worriedly.

Riley sighed gloomily and sat down next to Mary. She gazed at the ground distractedly and replied in a small voice, "I'll be okay I guess…"

Then she took a deep breath and started explaining fretfully, "It's just that a lot has been happening in my life lately and I've been feeling anxious and overwhelmed by it all! Now my Dad hasn't been feeling well and I'm worrying about him a lot…"

"I guess that's why I haven't been getting enough sleep lately." Riley said with a small shrug.

She turned to Kristy and gave her a weak smile. "But this morning he appeared to be a bit more cheerful, so I'm hoping that he's on the mend…" Riley offered with false conviction.

Kristy had been watching Riley thoughtfully the whole time she was speaking. Now she reached her hand behind Mary's back and patted Riley on the shoulder reassuringly.

"That's the spirit! Just try to think positive and be strong, and the universe will return the good vibes!" Kristy said optimistically.

Riley gave her a confused look. Kristy blushed a little and added quickly, "At least, that's what my Mom always says…"

Mary had remained silent throughout the whole conversation and both Kristy and Riley glanced at her curiously. Something didn't appear right about her today. She had a very distant look on her face, as if she were lost inside her own world and she kept pulling at the sleeves of her sweater absently.

As Riley looked at her more closely, she also noticed that Mary's fingernails had been chewed so badly, that parts of the nail bed were visible. Riley cringed instinctively as she thought how painful that must be…

But if Mary was experiencing any sort of physical discomfort from her chewed up nails, she wasn't showing it. She just kept gazing into space as though Riley, Kristy and all the people passing through the schoolyard weren't even there.

Finally, Kristy cleared her throat and gave her friend a gentle shove on the shoulder. "Come on Mary! Snap out of it!"

Mary turned her head slowly towards Kristy and gazed at her forlornly. Kristy realized that her friend must be anticipating the incessant teasing and bullying that she knew she would have to endure today and she was already dreading it.

Kristy gave a deep sigh. She tried to make her voice sound confident and strong as she grabbed Mary's hand and said, "I know what you're thinking about and I don't mean to sound crude, but you should be used to it by now my friend."

Kristy gestured towards the stairs leading to the school's front entrance, where Jenny and her "Popular Trio" were hanging out in their usual haunt. "Those self-centered bimbos have been bullying us both for so long!"

Kristy's voice began to quiver and she squeezed Mary's hand a little tighter. "I'm crying on the inside too, but every day I try to put on a mask of indifference because I don't want to give them the satisfaction of seeing that they've crushed my spirit!"

Kristy took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Her eyes were full of pity as she glanced first at Riley, then at Mary and whispered, "Those people mean nothing to me and I keep telling myself that the reason they pick on us is because they're trying to cover up their own shortcomings and social insecurities!"

Suddenly Mary snatched her hand away from Kristy and stood up abruptly. Tears were rolling down her cheeks and Riley thought she looked like a wounded animal as she wiped her eyes with her sleeve. Then without warning, Mary turned and ran off in the direction of the bathrooms, sobbing uncontrollably as she disappeared around the corner.

"Mary! Wait!" Riley jumped to her feet and looked at Kristy worriedly. "Shouldn't we go after her…?"

Kristy remained seated and shook her head sadly. "No. This has happened many times before…"

She met Riley's concerned gaze and offered her a sympathetic smile. "She just needs some time alone to push all that sorrow down before she can pick herself up and keep going…"

 _To Be Continued…_

* * *

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

 **Firstly, I'd like to thank everyone who has been reading this story (especially _jloew1993, Tripledent_ and _Orangebird124_ for the reviews.) **

**It just amazes me how some of you can read my mind! I have to single out _jloew1993_ on this occasion because somehow you saw even before I did that this emotional scenario involving Fear is going to need to be split into three parts in order to explain everything in full.**

 **Now I have to share something with you all…**

 **We all have our fears to face, and boy am I facing my Fear right now! Something (or actually someone) tripped up my emotional wellbeing a bit and caused me to feel insecure. I have started to doubt my ability to write and there were days when I was considering stopping altogether :(**

 **But I love this fandom and still have so many ideas for future stories that I would like to share. So that's what's keeping me going for now, but I have to let you know that I am walking on a thin line at the moment…**

 **I have decided to give myself a little break and concentrate on some other things that I love. I need to try to pick myself up and find my mojo again. For that reason, I may not be submitting as many chapters per week as I used to. I need to find inner peace and pick up the pieces of my shattered confidence because my self-esteem is at an all-time low right now :(**

 **Thank you all for understanding. My Fear and I are not well (just like Riley's Fear in this story) and hopefully we'll both get better soon.**

 **Love you all and wishing you happiness :)**

 **Svinorita.**


	8. The Worrying Kind (Part 3)

**Chapter 8 – The Worrying Kind (Part 3.)**

Riley was only half-listening to the history teacher talking about the war in the Pacific. Try as she might, she just couldn't stop worrying about her Dad and schoolwork was the farthest thing from her mind right now…

Riley sighed miserably and pretended to read along with the rest of the class as her teacher told them to turn to chapter nine in their history books. She tried to push all those negative thoughts that have been plaguing her throughout the day aside and "think positive" as Kristy had told her earlier this morning.

Then about halfway through history class, there was a knock at the door. Riley's teacher excused herself for a minute and stepped outside to see what the visitor wanted.

Riley stared at the door apprehensively. Deep down, she knew that the message was for her and that something had happened to her Dad…

Surely enough, the teacher reentered the classroom a short time later with a pretty worried expression on her face.

She looked straight at Riley and said in a serious tone, "Riley Andersen. Your mother has come to pick you up. She says there's been a family emergency…"

Riley felt her heart sink to the floor as she stood on shaky legs and started walking towards the door. Her worst fears had come true! Her Dad was in trouble and it felt as if time itself had stopped.

Riley felt like everything was moving in slow-motion around her as she left the classroom and crumpled into her mother's waiting arms.

"Oh Mom! It's Dad isn't it?! What's wrong?!" She sobbed into her mother's shoulder hysterically.

Jill was choking back tears of her own. She rubbed her daughter on the back soothingly and whispered into her ear, "He'll be okay sweetie. He's in hospital right now, but he'll be fine! He needed to get his appendix removed and the doctor told me that the operation went smoothly…"

Jill sighed and shook her head before adding with exasperation, "He was being stubborn and ignoring his symptoms! But when the pain finally got too intense, he came to his senses and realized that he needed help."

Riley looked at her mother's face imploringly, tears streaking her cheeks as she sniffled and wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her sweater.

Jill offered her daughter a reassuring smile and said, "Luckily we caught it just in time! If your father had waited any longer, there was a high possibility that his appendix would have ruptured and then things would have been much worse…"

XXX

Riley and her mother drove to the hospital in silence. Throughout the whole drive, Riley was struggling to control her tears. She wanted to appear strong for her Mom, but the fear she felt for her Dad was making it impossible for her to put on a brave face…

As soon as they arrived at the hospital, Riley practically ran to the room where the receptionist told them her father was resting. Her mother called out to her to wait, but Riley didn't hear her as she raced through the hospital's winding corridors to her Dad's room.

Her heart was pounding in her ears as Riley finally reached the room where her Dad was. She burst in through the door and scrambled to his bedside. That's when she looked down at his face and almost fell to pieces...

Although he didn't look nearly as bad as Riley had seen him in her nightmares, her Dad still looked very vulnerable and pale. He was hooked up to a drip and his torso was wrapped in bandages and hospital dressings. He was currently asleep, so Riley pulled up a chair next to his bed and sat down, tears rolling down her face as she gazed at him sullenly.

"Oh Daddy! I love you so much and you have to get better soon!" Riley cried as she gently clasped her father's hand and squeezed it desperately.

"I'm so sorry for causing you all this stress with my recent problems! They were so stupid compared with what you're going through right now…" Riley whispered shakily, her eyes roving over her Dad's sleeping face sincerely.

Out of pure desperation, Riley began ranting in the hopes that Bill would hear her pleas and wake up. "From now on, I'm going to try to be the best daughter ever! I'll bring you your slippers when you come home from work and I'll make you breakfast every Saturday and Sunday! I'll clean your car for you! I'll even brush your hair while you're watching TV! I know how much you'd like that…"

"Oh Daddy…" Riley squeezed Bill's hand tighter and slumped forward, burying her face in her arms as she started to wail. "I'm so scared! I-I can't live without you…"

All of a sudden, Riley felt the lightest of touches on her forearm. Then she heard her Dad saying in a weak raspy voice, "Don't stop now sweetheart! Keep going!"

Riley gasped and stopped crying. She looked up and her eyes met her father's as he watched her thoughtfully.

Bill offered her a slightly teasing smile and whispered, "I was making a mental list of all those things you promised to do for me! But you forgot to mention combing my moustache, emptying the trash and washing the dishes when it's my turn…"

Riley's face lit up and she enveloped her Dad in a big hug. "Oh Dad! You're awake!"

Then an incredulous look appeared on Riley's face. She pulled back gently and gave her Dad a mock punch in the arm, causing Bill to utter a startled grunt.

"You let me make all those promises on purpose didn't you?!" Riley exclaimed, her eye narrowed at her father accusingly. "You had me scared to death when Mom told me that you had developed appendicitis!"

Bill gave her an apologetic look and shrugged his shoulders dismissively. "Well if I had known that the persistent pain in my guts was due to a faulty appendix, then I would have sought medical attention sooner…"

"But everything turned out well in the end! We got it in time and the Doc has given me the all clear!" Bill assured his daughter in an upbeat tone. He reached up and ruffled her hair affectionately, which made Riley laugh with relief.

"As for those promises you made, I hope you realize that I intend to hold you to them young lady!" Bill pointed out seriously.

Riley laughed and embraced her father again. "I love you Dad!"

She squeezed him tight and Bill winced in pain. "Easy there young lady! You're going to burst my stitches!" Bill cautioned, his hand touching his lower abdomen tentatively.

Riley released him quickly. She was just about to apologize when they heard a soft knock on the door. Doctor Mikkelsen, a handsome young Norwegian man with a radiant smile, stepped inside followed by a rather flustered looking Jill.

"Well, well! It looks like everything is good with my favorite family!" He announced cheerfully as he flashed them one of his stunning smiles.

Riley leapt out of her chair and gave Doctor Mikkelsen a grateful hug. "Thank you so much! You saved my Dad!"

Doctor Mikkelsen chuckled and gave Riley's shoulder a friendly squeeze. "It is my pleasure!"

The doctor went over to Bill's bed and checked the page displaying all his health information and statistics.

"Everything looks fine and you'll be ready to return home in a few days Mr. Andersen." Doctor Mikkelsen informed Bill with a nod of satisfaction.

Bill gave a thumbs up sign while Riley and her mother exchanged relieved looks.

The doctor turned to Riley and said with a smile, "By the way Riley, your friend Dolly is here and she wanted me to tell you hello from her and to let you know that she is recovering nicely!"

Riley's eyes lit up with elation at this news. "Oh that's wonderful doctor! Can I go visit her?!"

Doctor Mikkelsen chuckled and replied, "Maybe tomorrow. I just checked in on her not too long ago and she was sleeping…"

Riley's face dropped but she nodded in understanding.

"Okay then! I have other patients to visit now, but I promise to take good care of your Dad for the duration of his stay in my clinic!" Doctor Mikkelsen vowed.

"Thank you Doctor!" Riley and her parents all said in unison.

XXX

Fear was woken by the sound of Riley's laughter when the doctor told her that her Dad was going to be alright. He glanced around the room startled and nearly cried out in alarm as he felt Sadness touch his hand lightly from beside him.

The blue Emotion gave him a half-smile and pointed to the monitor, drawing Fear's attention to the scene unfolding in the hospital room between Riley and her Dad.

"You see Fear? Even though neither of us are very cheerful Emotions, I think it's safe to say that things are starting to look brighter for Riley…" Sadness offered timidly.

Fear stared at the screen with a doubtful expression. Sadness picked up on his uncertainty and she sighed before adding quietly, "You need to stop beating yourself up about everything that's been happening to Riley! We can only do so much to help her and some things are just beyond our control…"

"I know that Sadness." Fear interrupted with a note of frustration in his voice.

He turned away from his blue co-worker so she wouldn't see the anguish on his face before adding glumly, "But sometimes I feel like I shouldn't have been born! I mean, why do people _need_ Fear?! No one wants to be afraid, so wouldn't they be better off without Fear in their lives…"

Fear trailed off and stared at the floor dismally. His axon drooped listlessly at the back of his neck and he started to shiver as a combination of stress and cold gripped his weakened body.

Sadness listened in sympathy. After a few moments, she took a deep breath and offered hesitantly, "I guess we all have our purpose…after all, who wants to feel sad?"

Fear didn't respond and stood shivering with his back to Sadness, so the blue Emotion stepped forward and placed her hand on his quivering shoulder reassuringly.

"If people didn't have fear, they would rush headlong into any dangerous situation! They would take unnecessary risks and inadvertently expose themselves to even more danger!" Sadness explained helpfully.

Fear turned around slowly and searched her kind face imploringly with his big gray eyes.

Sadness offered him a tiny smile of encouragement before averting her eyes to the floor and adding softly, "So you see? Not everything that people need, they have to necessarily like. Everything has its purpose in life and that includes Emotions like us…"

Suddenly, Sadness felt a soft pressure on her right hand and looking down, she noticed that Fear was squeezing her hand gently. She glanced up at his face and saw that he was smiling at her gratefully.

"Thank you for your compassion Sadness. I was in a dark place for a long time now and your words helped me see the light! I guess there really is a need for all of us and we all have a purpose even if it's not always clear..." Fear commended quietly.

Sadness gave him a small smile in return and replied, "I'm glad I could help you Fear."

Suddenly, her smile faltered and she looked away dejectedly. "But now I've got myself thinking…"

"No one likes to feel sad..."

* * *

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

 **Sometimes, we can all make ourselves physically sick with worry. By overthinking and focusing on the negative side of things, we can withdraw into our shells and sometimes we need help from others to get through it.**

 **But anxiety can make us feel too scared and insecure to seek help at times :(**

 **That's when we can make ourselves physically (and emotionally) sick with worry just like Fear did!**

 **It's okay to be scared sometimes and everyone feels afraid now and then. And it's also okay to reach out and ask for help without feeling stupid or insignificant for doing so!**

 **Because as you saw towards the end of this chapter, a little kindness and compassion can go a long way :)**

 **Svinorita.**


	9. Something's Been Making Me Blue (Part 1)

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

 **We all worry about different things in our lives and sometimes a little kindness from the people around us can go a long way. It is part of human nature to worry; sometimes it's necessary and other times we end up overthinking it…**

 **This is when we find ourselves pushed into a corner and consequently, when your back is up against the wall you may start thinking:**

 **Something's been making me blue…**

 **Before we continue with our next Emotional scenario, I'd just like to point out that I have changed this story's rating from K+ to T because some of the upcoming events may not be suitable for younger readers. Don't worry! The content of these next few chapters won't involve anything overly drastic, but like I said it may not be suitable for younger readers and I thought I'd better change the rating just to be safe :)**

 **Now without further ado, let's get cracking with the story!**

 **Svinorita.**

* * *

 **Chapter 9 – Something's Been Making Me Blue (Part 1.)**

Jill decided to keep Riley home from school the next day. After a long sleepless night thinking about her Dad, Riley woke up at 6 AM sharp and immediately started nagging her mother about when they could go see Bill at the hospital.

"Come on Mom! We need to go visit Dad! He must be feeling lonely after spending the whole night in hospital without us!" Riley urged as she stood beside her Mom's bed and shook her awake impatiently.

Jill groaned and rolled over, her tired brown eyes meeting her daughter's worried blue ones. She glanced at her bedside clock before turning her sleepy gaze back to Riley. "Oh Sweetie…"

She reached up with one hand and stroked Riley's hair gently. A tiny smile formed on her lips as she whispered, "I know you're eager to see your Dad, but it's still too early to go. We have to wait for visiting hours and besides, your Dad is probably still sleeping. He needs his rest so his body can recover from the operation properly."

Riley gave a disappointed sigh and nodded reluctantly. Deep down she knew her Mom was right and whether she liked it or not, she had no choice but to wait until visiting hours opened at 9 AM…

Riley spent the next couple of hours pacing fretfully from room to room, pausing only to check the clock in the lounge room every half-hour or so as she anxiously counted the minutes separating her from seeing her Dad.

Finally it was five minutes to 9 and Jill announced that they were ready to go. Riley raced out of the front door like a bolt of lightning and headed for the car with renewed urgency. But despite her eagerness to get to the hospital, she still convinced Jill to stop along the way so they could pick up a newspaper and some flowers for her Dad.

XXX

When Riley and her mother arrived at the hospital, they found Bill propped up in bed chatting to Doctor Mikkelsen.

As Riley and Jill entered the room, the young doctor turned and flashed them one of his dazzling smiles. His voice sounded friendly and cheerful as he greeted them and this made them both feel instantly at ease that all was well with Bill.

"Good morning ladies!" Doctor Mikkelsen looked at Riley and assured her good-naturedly, "I have great news! Your Dad is recovering nicely and at this rate, he will be ready to go home very soon!"

The doctor chuckled to himself and threw a quick glance back at Bill. "Mr. Andersen, I think my work here is done. Your best medicine is right here!"

He gestured to Riley and Jill and exclaimed happily, "I'll leave you to bask in some unconditional family love while I attend to some of my other patients!"

Both Riley and Jill gave the handsome doctor adoring looks as he told them goodbye and left the room.

After a while, Bill cleared his throat and prompted impatiently, "Hey girls! I'm right here! He meant for the two of you to give _me_ unconditional love, not him!"

"Oh Dad!" Riley giggled as she ran up to his bedside and hugged him tightly. "You know you're everything to me and Mom!"

She kissed her father on the cheek and then blushed before admitting quietly, "It's just that Doctor Mikkelsen is so handsome…"

"Yes well, I can see your mother seems to agree with you…" Bill replied gruffly, his eye narrowed at Jill critically.

Jill snorted with amusement and shook her head as she joined Riley at Bill's bedside. "Oh you old Billy Goat! I see you've got your sharp wit back!" She smiled admirably and kissed her husband on the lips.

Bill chuckled and returned her gesture happily. Then he noticed the lovely flowers that Riley was holding and he looked at her questioningly.

"My little princess! Are those flowers for me, or Doctor Mikkelsen?" Bill asked teasingly.

Riley blushed again and held out the flowers to her Dad. "Of course they are for you silly! I also brought you a newspaper and this…"

Riley brought her other hand out from behind her back and revealed the small wrapped parcel she had been hiding from her Dad's view up till now.

Bill's eyes lit up with excitement as he took the parcel from Riley and started unwrapping it eagerly. Riley laughed as she watched her Dad's mouth form a comical "O" of surprise when he saw what the mystery object was…

Bill stared at the framed photograph in his hands with a mixture of admiration and confusion. It was a picture that Riley kept on her nightstand of her as a baby. She was sitting in her highchair at the dining table while Bill was attempting to feed her some mashed carrots, the spoon held in a way that mimicked an airplane flying towards Riley's mouth.

"Okay…" Bill ventured hesitantly. He shot Riley a perplexed look and probed gently, "That's lovely Sweetheart. But since I won't be staying here _that_ long, I don't quite understand the meaning of this…"

Riley was struggling to keep a straight face as she explained slowly, "Well Dad, I brought it to you so you can think and reflect while you're here."

"I mean come on! Look at that face!" Riley emphasized as she pointed to her baby self in the photo.

"Yeah I'm looking and that's the face I adore the most." Bill replied with a little smile. He glanced back at Riley and regarded her quizzically. "But I still don't get what you mean by this…"

The corner of Riley's mouth twitched as she fought back a smile and tried to appear serious. "Now think. That is the face you intend to turn into your slave when you leave this hospital! That's the face you want to have doing the dishes for you, taking out the trash, combing your hair…"

Suddenly both of Riley's parents burst out laughing and she shot them an incredulous look.

"Easy there young lady! I'm going to bust my stitches!" Bill wheezed through tears of laughter. He pressed a hand to his side as he tried unsuccessfully to stop laughing.

Jill rolled her eyes and mumbled, "A chip off the old block…"

Riley smiled and nodded in satisfaction. "Okay! Now that I've made you feel better, can I go visit Dolly?"

Bill finally managed to pull himself together. He wiped the tears from his eyes with the back of one hand and nodded at Riley encouragingly. "You do that Sweetheart. I heard from Doctor Mikkelsen that she's been asking about you!"

XXX

Joy, Sadness and Fear were watching the monitor with concentration. All three felt relieved that Riley's morning appeared to be going perfectly and Joy in particular was beside herself with happiness. She gave an elated laugh and scooped Sadness into a friendly hug.

"Way to go Sadness! That was a great idea about the photograph." The yellow Emotion praised her blue co-worker happily. She smiled down at her little friend and released her from her embrace gently.

"I know." Sadness sniffled quietly. "That photo always makes me cry…"

The blue Emotion took a handkerchief out of her pocket and blew her nose softly before adding, "Riley was so cute and everything was so much easier in those days! Her parents were young and healthy. We never had to worry about illness and the challenges of getting older…"

Sadness began sobbing and she turned away from the monitor, burying her face in her handkerchief and blowing her nose again.

"You were good too Joy." Fear chipped in, giving his yellow co-worker a proud pat on the shoulder. "You made everyone laugh and you always helped us find the positive in any situation."

"That was easy! I made everyone laugh because happiness is contagious!" Joy declared cheerfully.

She smiled at Fear and pointed out helpfully, "Things are starting to improve for Riley slowly and I believe that is in part because you are finally getting better my friend!"

"This morning, I noticed you ate _almost_ as much as Anger and that nearly made me choke on my cereal!" Joy chuckled before unleashing a big yawn.

Fear shrugged and replied shyly, "I guess I was hungrier than I realized…"

Joy nodded and yawned again.

"Why don't you go lie down Joy?" Fear suggested gently. His gray eyes suddenly became filled with concern and he added nervously, "We don't want you to get sick like I did!"

Joy looked up at the monitor and back to her two co-workers hesitantly. "Are you sure you guys will be okay on your own?"

"We will." Sadness sniffled quietly.

"That's right! Now off you go Joy!" Fear assured her with as much confidence as he could manage. He started gently pushing the exhausted yellow Emotion towards the ramp leading to the sleeping quarters.

"I'll just wash the dishes from this morning's breakfast and tidy up in the kitchen. I've been idle for way to long and I'm grateful to have something useful to do! Then I'll rejoin Sadness here and we'll both keep an eye on Riley for the day." Fear promised her eagerly.

He left Joy at the ramp and headed into the kitchen to get to work.

"Okeydokey guys! I can sleep easy knowing that Riley is in good hands with you two!" Joy yawned again and started climbing the ramp.

"I'm beat…" She admitted tiredly and headed towards her room to get some much needed rest.

XXX

Riley opened the door to the patient ward where Dolly was staying and laughed silently at the sight that greeted her. Her friend had obviously made a full recovery from her bout of pneumonia and she was back to her usual fun-loving self!

Riley folded her arms and watched with amusement from the doorway as Dolly sang along with gusto to the _Cranberries_ song "Zombie" which was playing from a small prehistoric-looking stereo on her bedside desk. In fact, Dolly was trying so hard to imitate her namesake; Dolores O'Riordan that she failed to notice Riley standing there laughing at her antics!

Instead, she carried on singing and packing her bags while busting out some classic zombie moves (although Riley was pretty sure the song had nothing to do with _actual_ zombies…)

Riley cleared her throat gently and announced in a softly teasing voice, "I'm terribly sorry Miss Zombie Lady, but I think I have the wrong room! I was looking for my friend Dolly O'Hara… have you seen her by any chance?"

Dolly froze mid-zombie walk and turned towards the door with a huge grin on her face. "Andersen! You have no idea how much I've missed you!" She exclaimed excitedly.

Riley burst out laughing and enveloped her friend in a massive hug of greeting. "O'Hara! You look like the mother of all leprechauns!"

Dolly happened to be wearing the greenest pajamas Riley had ever seen and the front of her shirt was embroidered with images of little leprechauns that were dancing and leaping around.

Dolly smiled and stepped back, showing off her pajamas proudly. "You like? My granny sent me these from good 'ole Ireland! They bring me good luck!"

As Dolly spoke, she deliberately made her accent sound stronger and this caused Riley to laugh even harder.

After a few moments, Riley finally pulled herself together. She pointed to the bags Dolly had been in the process of packing and asked happily, "Are you going home today?"

"Yep! I'm as good as new and my mom will be coming to pick me up soon." Dolly sat down at the foot of her bed and patted the space beside her welcomingly.

"How about you sit with me for a while and fill me in on everything that's been happening in school during my absence?" She suggested eagerly.

Riley sat down and the two friends chatted about the events of the past week for a while. Riley told Dolly about all the boring tests she missed out on in school as well as the good news that Jenny; the acid-tongued leader of the notorious "Popular Trio" got dumped by the captain of the school's football team.

"Apparently, he left her for that new exchange student from Scotland and guess what? She has long fiery red hair just like Kristy! Isn't karma great or what?!" Riley informed her friend with a devilish smile.

Dolly nodded and gave Riley a high-five. "I bet that put a smile on Kristy's face huh? I always told her that she ought to be proud of her red hair, not ashamed of it! Now even the biggest jock in school thinks it's hot!"

Riley shook her head and sighed deeply. "I'm glad for her. Kristy and Mary both deserve a break…"

"Speaking of Mary, how is she doing? You haven't mentioned her much…" Dolly asked while giving Riley a curious look.

Riley's expression suddenly turned grim. Her blue eyes became filled with sadness as she whispered, "Oh Dolly, I'm really worried about Mary! She's had so many days off school lately and whenever she does turn up, she always looks so sad and withdrawn…"

Riley took a deep breath and continued bleakly. "I heard her crying in the school's bathroom on many occasions. Then one time, she was wearing a sweater with loose sleeves. As she tried to adjust her schoolbag, one of her sleeves accidentally rolled up and I saw some cut marks on her left arm!"

Now Dolly was looking serious too. "I was suspecting something like that might have been going on for a while…" She admitted sadly.

"What do you mean?" Riley asked hesitantly.

Dolly dropped her gaze to the floor and spoke quietly. "You see, it's not only the constant bullying that Mary has been forced to endure for so long. She's had it rough for most of her life."

Riley raised her eyebrow and stared at her friend with surprise. "How do you know that?"

"My cousin is Mary Bradman's neighbor and she witnessed a lot of awful things happening next door." Dolly explained in a low voice. All her former joy and goofiness seemed to have evaporated and Riley noticed that she suddenly sounded very sullen.

"She told me once that Mary's father is a nasty alcoholic. Apparently he can't hold onto any job for long and my cousin says that she often heard yelling and crying coming from Mary's house." Dolly shook her head and let out a deep sigh before continuing solemnly.

"My cousin works the nightshifts and many times when she came home from work, she found Mary and her mom standing outside in the dark. She told me that Mr. Bradman kicked them out of the house and locked them out. Apparently, he called Mary a freak and monster spawn because he can't understand how someone so ugly could be his daughter." Dolly sighed again and stared at her feet dejectedly.

"Mary's mother works hard but they never have enough money because Mr. Bradman spends all of it on his drinking. My cousin told me that Mr. Bradman and his wife got into a terrible fight one night while he was drunk. He ended up breaking his wife's ribs and Mary's mom had to go to hospital. During the time that her mother was away, Mary ran away from home and she lived rough on the streets."

"Apparently the situation with her father is so bad, that Mary would rather eat out of other people's trash than stay at home alone with her dad…" Dolly trailed off sadly.

Riley was staring at her friend in shocked silence. Tears rolled down her cheeks but she was too stunned to wipe them away. "Oh Dolly! I had no idea…"

"All this time I've been stressing about such trivial things!" Riley admitted guiltily.

She reached out and clasped Dolly's hand, her blue eyes suddenly filled with determination. "We have to find a way to help her!"

But almost as soon as she'd said it, a thought crossed Riley's mind and she added quickly, "But what I don't get, is why hasn't her mom's family tried to do anything to help them after all this time?!"

Dolly shrugged, her voice somber as she said, "My cousin says that Mr. Bradman is originally from Nebraska and that Mrs. Bradman's family are in Canada. Mrs. Bradman never invites her family to visit because she's ashamed of the way they live!"

Dolly turned to Riley and gave her a half-smile. "You're probably wondering how my cousin knows so much about the Bradman's, huh? Well the thing is my cousin lives alone. Her husband died many years ago and her children are all grown up and have families of their own. She gets lonely sometimes so she would occasionally invite Mary and her mom over for lunch. Sometimes she even let them stay at her house overnight until Mr. Bradman sobered up."

Riley was sobbing deeply by now. She thought about the happy, loving relationship she has with her Dad and how he's always joking around and trying to make her laugh. Then she tried to picture what it must be like for Mary when she's around her dad and how miserable he makes her life. Riley was shocked that Mary's own father could be so cruel to her and she felt utterly heartbroken for her new friend.

"Poor Mary. I never knew that her life was so awful…" Riley buried her face in her hands and started crying helplessly.

"Please don't cry Andersen." Dolly whispered as she gave Riley a comforting hug. "I don't know how yet, but I promise that we'll try to help Mary somehow..."

XXX

Sadness was also crying uncontrollably at the console. "Why?! Mary is such a nice girl! Why do people have to be so awful to each other…?"

Without even realizing it, Sadness had been pressing buttons blindly through her tears and the console was now glowing a deep sorrowful blue. The little Emotion had worked herself into one of her self-proclaimed "sadness spirals" and she was crying so hard, that she started to hiccup from the effort.

All of a sudden, Sadness felt a pair of gentle, light hands touching her on the shoulder and she turned around instinctively. She saw Fear looking down at her sympathetically, his big gray eyes full of kindness and compassion as he tried his best to comfort her.

"Oh Sadness… please don't cry so much." The purple Emotion whispered softly.

He nodded towards the monitor and stated reassuringly, "Dolly is such a strong and amazing girl and our Riley is pretty awesome too! We need to concentrate on helping her and together with Dolly, I'm sure we will find a way to help poor Mary…"

Sadness sniffled and offered Fear a half-smile of appreciation. Then she hiccupped loudly and looked away from his caring gaze dismally.

Fear smiled compassionately and whispered, "I'll go make you some herbal tea to help with your hiccups and then I'll stay here with you for as long as you'd like. You helped me when I was sick and you're always willing to listen when I or any of the others need a friend to talk to."

Fear squeezed her shoulder gently and turned towards the kitchen to go make some tea for both of them.

But before he left the room, he promised her again quietly, "I won't leave you on your own. We'll help Riley get through this together!"

A few minutes later, Fear returned with two steaming cups of tea. Sadness accepted hers gratefully and with Fear at her side, they stayed at the console throughout the day, determined to help guide Riley as best as they could.

 _To Be Continued…_


	10. Something's Been Making Me Blue (Part 2)

**NOTE:**

 **Sorry for the long wait everybody! It's just that this is an exceptionally busy time of year for me so I haven't had much time to write lately. It is almost winter here in Australia and there is so much work to be done around the house and yard before the cold wet weather sets in!**

 **Then there's the Eurovision Song Contest (which I have been following religiously every year since 1999, meaning lots of early mornings, late nights and musical distraction (even as I am writing this, I have several songs bouncing around inside my head from this year's participants and that makes trying to concentrate very difficult…**

 **Anyway, I hope you all haven't forgotten about me and I have done my best to pick up where I last left off with this story. There are still a few more chapters to come after this one, although I should warn you all that there will be a bit of a wait in between chapters, since there is a lot going on in my life right now and I just don't have as much time to devote to writing as I used to.**

 **Enjoy guys :)**

 **Svinorita.**

* * *

 **Chapter 10 – Something's Been Making Me Blue (Part 2.)**

Riley and Dolly were so engrossed in their conversation, that neither noticed the attractive dark-haired nurse enter the hospital room. It was only when the young woman cleared her throat from the doorway that Dolly turned around and her face lit up with elation.

"Andersen! Allow me to introduce you to my favorite nurse…" Dolly began excitedly.

But before she could say anything else, she was shocked into silence as Riley gave a delighted squeal and leapt up from her seat.

"Nurse Lumi! Long time no see!" Riley exclaimed, throwing her arms around the young nurse's waist and hugging her happily.

Dolly stared at her friend with open mouthed surprise. "You two already know each other?!"

The nurse chuckled softly and rubbed Riley on the back affectionately. "Yes Dear. We met a while ago…"

"Lumi was my favorite nurse too Dolly! A few years ago, I was very sick and she helped take care of me while I was in hospital." Riley explained as she gently pulled away from the young woman's embrace and turned to face her perplexed friend with a smile.

"Lumi and her wonderful, kind-hearted grandmother; Alina helped me and my family _a lot!_ I owe my life to both of them!" Riley's expression suddenly turned sad and she looked down guiltily.

"But I guess we lost touch over the years somehow…"She whispered apologetically.

The nurse; Lumi placed a hand on Riley's shoulder and squeezed it reassuringly. "That's life Honey. Everybody is busy doing their own things and sometimes it isn't possible to stay in touch with old friends."

"But that doesn't mean I've forgotten about you and your parents." Lumi assured Riley with a genuine smile. "In fact, my grandmother and I used to talk about you a lot!"

Riley felt her cheeks blushing and she gave the nurse a shy smile. "Really? That's nice…"

Suddenly her blue eyes glinted with excitement.

"By the way, how is Mrs. Alina these days?" Riley asked eagerly.

Lumi's smile melted away and she shook her head sadly. "Oh I'm sorry Dear. Alina passed away a little over a year ago."

"What?!" Tears pooled in Riley's eyes and her voice sounded shaky in disbelief. "I didn't know…"

Unable to contain her grief, Riley started to cry as memories of Lumi's kindly grandmother, with her deep soulful brown eyes and gentle hands flashed through her mind.

"Alina was so kind! She helped so many people, including me when no one else could…" Riley sobbed distraughtly.

Lumi wrapped an arm around Riley's shoulders in an attempt to comfort her. "Yes she did Honey, and it's good that people can find comfort in that. But Alina was very old…"

Lumi sighed and stated solemnly, "It was her time to go and she died peacefully in her sleep last winter."

Riley couldn't stop the tears from rolling down her cheeks as she listened to Lumi forlornly. Lumi offered her a sad smile and reached into her pocket for a tissue.

"I know something that might cheer you up a little, Dear." The nurse spoke soothingly as she handed Riley the tissue. "I've brought a few of my homemade honey cakes to share with the hospital staff for lunch and you girls are more than welcome to help yourselves to some if you'd like."

Riley nodded slowly as she wiped her eyes with the tissue. "Thank you Nurse Lumi. I remember how delicious those honey cakes were the last time you and Alina gave them to me and my parents. My Mom even tried to follow your recipe at home, but they never turned out as good as yours."

Lumi smiled graciously and left the room to get the honey cakes for Riley and Dolly.

As soon as she disappeared down the hall, Dolly turned to Riley with a questioning look in her green eyes. "What was all _that_ about Andersen?!"

She nudged Riley playfully on the arm with her fist and demanded mockingly, "You have too many secrets girl! Fill me in please…"

Riley sighed and looked away from her friend's gaze glumly. "Not right now Dolly. I'm feeling too sad…"

XXX

Sadness was watching the monitor and crying uncontrollably, her tears forming small puddles on the floor beside the console.

Fear stood beside his blue co-worker and tried his best to reassure her, although he too was on the verge of tears.

"Oh Sadness! Please don't cry. You're going to get me started…" He stammered and wrapped his arms around the little Emotion in a light hug.

"How can I not Fear?!" Sadness wailed hysterically, an endless stream of tears flowing down her blue face. "This is all too much! Too many bad things have been happening to Riley and to everyone she loves!"

Sadness buried her face into her hands and sobbed even harder. "Now we found out that Alina is gone and I can't stand it anymore! I'm feeling blue not only on the outside, but on the inside as well!"

"I know. Alina helped Riley so much and we never had a chance to say goodbye…" Fear admitted miserably, a single large tear sliding from the corner of his eye as he looked down at his feet dejectedly.

All of a sudden, both Emotions were startled by a heartbroken wail coming from behind them.

"NOOO! SHE CAN'T BE GONE!"

Fear and Sadness turned towards the voice simultaneously and saw Disgust standing a few feet away, bawling her eyes out. Both Emotions gasped in shock as they registered the unmistakable sorrow on their usually aloof co-worker's face.

"Alina didn't just help Riley, she also saved my life! I literally wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for her!" Disgust lamented in a shrill voice.

Sadness sniffled and approached her grief-stricken friend slowly.

"Oh Disgust! I'm so sorry…" She croaked as she took the green Emotion's hand gently in hers.

But Disgust was inconsolable. She shook her head and yanked her hand out of Sadness' abruptly.

"Just let me be! I need to be alone right now…" Disgust screamed. Covering her face with her hands, she whirled around and fled to her room utterly distraught.

Sadness and Fear glanced at each other helplessly. But deep down, both of them understood. Out of all of them, Disgust was naturally going to take the news of Alina's death the hardest and there was nothing either of them could do to console her. They need to give her some space and let their green co-worker grieve in her own way.

The two Emotions turned their attentions back to the monitor and resumed watching their equally distraught host as she sat, weeping broken-heartedly beside Dolly.

XXX

A couple of days later, Bill was ready to be discharged from hospital. Doctor Mikkelsen declared that he was well on the road to recovery and both Riley and Jill couldn't wait for him to come home! The house had been awfully quiet during Bill's absence and both girls had missed him terribly.

Unfortunately if they had only known what was in store for them, Riley and her mother would probably have _begged_ Doctor Mikkelsen to keep Bill in hospital a little longer…

Only a few hours after he arrived home, Bill managed to locate his old sports whistle from back when he used to coach the Prairie Dogs in Minnesota and he immediately put it to good use!

He settled himself comfortably into his favorite recliner chair in the lounge room and announced to his wife and daughter matter-of-factly that he still needed a lot of rest following his surgery. Therefore, whenever he blows into his whistle, he expects either Jill or Riley to come and see to his needs pronto!

Riley tried putting the irresistible baby photo of herself on the desk beside Bill's chair in a desperate attempt to make her Dad feel guilty about turning her and Mom into his servants, but to no avail…

After two days under Bill's new slavery regime, both Riley and her Mom were seriously considering checking into a hotel and leaving Bill to his own devices with his stupid whistle!

But that was only wishful thinking of course, and Jill usually took care of the majority of Bill's demands during his "post-surgical recovery." After all, Riley still had to attend school and focus on her homework, so she didn't have time for her Dad's antics on top of her already busy schedule.

Nevertheless as the days went by, Jill couldn't help noticing that her daughter appeared unusually sad and withdrawn. Despite her own weariness, Jill tried her best to comfort her daughter by approaching her on the subject one night after dinner.

"Sweetie you barely touched your food this evening." Jill ventured in a concerned voice as Riley pushed past her to scrape the largely untouched spaghetti bolognaise on her plate into the bin under the kitchen sink.

"I know a lot has been happening lately and most of it wasn't good…" Jill reached out a hand and placed it on Riley's shoulder gently, forcing her to turn around and face her as she continued with a sympathetic smile. "But please try not to worry so much Honey. Your Dad is recovering nicely…"

"Although he can be an enormous pain in the butt at times…" Jill mumbled under her breath tartly.

She shook her head and offered her daughter another compassionate smile before adding, "Dolly is fine and back in school and I hear that you've made some new friends named Kristy and Mary while she was away."

Jill's smile wavered as she remembered what Riley had told her about Alina's passing and she squeezed her daughter's shoulder reassuringly. "I know that you're sad about Alina, but she was very old Sweetheart. I'm sure she's in a better place now and she wouldn't want you to feel this upset over her."

"Oh Mom, I know all that." Riley whispered, her eyes fixed at her feet glumly.

She took a deep, shuddering breath and explained in a trembling voice, "But that's not what I've been worrying about. I told you about my new friend from school; Mary…"

Riley choked back a sob and finally met her mother's worried gaze hesitantly. "It's just that I feel so bad for her! Her dad is a heavy drinker and he abuses her mom verbally and physically. On top of that, Mary gets constantly bullied at school and I noticed that she has started to self-harm!"

Riley searched her mother's brown eyes desperately. Her expression was grim as she admitted miserably, "She needs help and I don't know how to help her Mom! I wish I could do something!"

"Oh Sweetie! I'm so sorry. I didn't know…" Jill wrapped her arms around her daughter and drew her into a loving hug. "If you'd like, we can talk about it tomorrow after school? Maybe we can think of a way to help together?"

Riley sighed dejectedly and nodded slowly in agreement. "I guess so…"

Just then, the shrill sound of a whistle came from the direction of the lounge room.

"Oh Princess! Aren't you forgetting something? Where's my goodnight kiss?" Bill called out in a whining voice.

Riley and her mother both rolled their eyes in annoyance. Then they walked into the lounge and Riley gave her Dad a quick peck on both cheeks.

"Okay Dad, better?" She asked flatly.

"Yeah, thanks Sweetie. You never know if you'll find me at home or back in hospital tomorrow…" Bill said in a softly teasing manner.

Riley glanced over at her mother. Despite her gloomy mood, a tiny smile formed on her lips when she saw her Mom shaking her head and pretending to play a violin dramatically behind Bill's back.

XXX

Fear stood looking at the monitor with his hands on his hips. A small smile of approval appeared on his face as he watched Riley climb the stairs and head for her room to get ready for bed.

"You see Sadness? It looks like all the pieces are finally falling into place and things are going to start improving from now on!" Fear noted with a nervous chuckle.

His remark was met with silence and he turned his gaze towards Sadness, who was still slumped over the controls and sobbing pitifully to herself.

Fear let out a long sigh and lifted his tea cup to his lips to take a much-needed sip of his favorite calming brew...only to find that the cup was already _empty._

Fear grunted in annoyance as he regarded his empty cup through narrowed eyes. He must have finished his tea while he was preoccupied with the conversation between Riley and her Mom without even realizing it.

The purple Emotion gave another sigh and picked up Sadness' cup, which was also empty from the edge of the console before offering quietly, "I think we both could use a refill of tea to help us relax before going to bed. You stay here and keep an eye on Riley while I go make us some."

Sadness nodded silently and Fear disappeared into the kitchen to prepare some more tea for the two of them. Although it was in her nature to be pessimistic, Sadness truthfully couldn't see the improvements her purple colleague claimed were in store for Riley. After all, Bill was still not fully recovered and free from pain, Jill was tired and overworked lately and Riley was worrying herself sick about Mary.

The little Emotion made a choking sound in the back of her throat as another wave of sorrow settled over her and she reached into her pocket for her handkerchief. But just as she raised it up to her face to dab at the tears already forming in her eyes, she accidentally dropped it on the console and in her haste to pick it up, she bumped a lever with her elbow.

A deep melancholy blue light like the color of the deepest ocean spread over the console instantly and moments later, Sadness heard Riley sniffling and crying as she lay in her bed restlessly. The blue Emotion looked up at the screen and even though Riley's bedroom was completely dark, she sensed her host wiping the tears that were streaming from her eyes, only to catch _herself_ mirroring Riley to the exact detail.

XXX

The next morning as Riley arrived at school, she found Kristy pacing anxiously in front of their bench in the corner of the schoolyard. For the first time since she had met her, Riley noticed that Kristy was alone and this troubled her deeply. Mary was nowhere in sight and normally, Kristy and Mary were inseparable at school, so she instantly knew that something was terribly wrong.

The lanky red-haired girl looked up as Riley approached her with a worried look on her face.

"Riley! At last you're here!" She called out apprehensively and ran to meet her friend.

"Yeah…" Riley responded nervously.

She glanced around quickly before venturing with mounting concern in her voice, "Where are Dolly and Mary this morning?"

"I have no idea! I tried calling both their cellphones, but it goes straight to voicemail!" Kristy replied with increasing desperation. She was beginning to hyperventilate as her blue eyes darted around the schoolyard listlessly.

Riley took her own cellphone out of her pocket and tried dialing Dolly's number with trembling fingers. Surely enough, it went straight to voicemail just like Kristy had said. Riley felt her heart start to pound faster as her own panic increased.

Dolly _always_ answered her phone, even if one of her cousins called her from Ireland in the middle of night! There was no longer any doubt in Riley's mind that something was seriously wrong and she looked up at Kristy with dread.

She saw the same panicked look in her friend's eyes and in that moment, a silent revelation passed between them. Both girls knew in their hearts that something terrible must have happened to Mary…

 _To Be Continued…_

* * *

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

 **For those of you familiar with my story "The Curse of the Were-Disgust", you probably recognized nurse Lumi and her grandmother Alina. When I create some of these OC characters, I become a little attached to some of them and I feel like mentioning them in my other stories every now and then. So I saw a great opportunity to include Lumi and Alina in this chapter and I hope you enjoyed seeing them again as much as I did!**

 **And then of course there is Doctor Mikkelsen too…**

 **I have decided that in my stories, he will be the Andersen family's official doctor from now on! He is actually based on a real person, although his profession in my stories is completely different than the real-life man who inspired him. Those of you who have read my profile know that I am a huge fan of car rallying and I based Doctor Mikkelsen on the most gorgeous Rally driver of them all: Andreas Mikkelsen :)** **Just like Doctor Mikkelsen in my story, Andreas Mikkelsen is Norwegian and he has a very joyful personality with a smile that can light up a room!**

 **That's a bit of fun trivia that I thought I'd share with you all and even if you haven't read "The Curse of the Were-Disgust", I still hope you enjoyed this chapter :)**

 **Svinorita.**


	11. Something's Been Making Me Blue (Part 3)

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

 **Hi guys! I'd like to say a few words before I begin on this chapter (well probably more than a "few" words, but many of you know me by now!)**

 **I joined FanFiction just over a year ago with the intention of writing stories for two movies, both of which have impacted my life in special ways. These two movies are** _ **"Inside Out"**_ **and** _ **"The Nightmare Before Christmas."**_ **My very first story was** _ **"Secrets of an Emotional Mind"**_ **which was an idea I was very keen to share with others as well as something I became obsessed with ever since I watched** _ **"Inside Out"**_ **for the first time.**

 **Now here we are 15 stories later! I still have a few more ideas for possible** _ **"Inside Out"**_ **stories and hopefully I might get to write them sometime in the future. But in the meantime, let's try to finish this story…**

 **I think I mentioned in one of my previous Author Notes that I don't work well under pressure. As many of you are aware, a great number of my stories were requests (which I** **did** **accept mind you!) I am a very insecure person though and whenever I was writing these requests, I was constantly questioning whether I would be able to do justice by the person/or persons who trusted me to write a good story for them.**

 **Deep down I was also very disappointed that I never got around to writing my own ideas, (of which I had many, but unfortunately most of them are gone by now…) I suppose that was my own fault because I could never bring myself to say "No" to anybody and I was trying so hard to please everyone else, that I never had time to make myself happy :(**

 **Judging by the views on some of my latter** _ **"Inside Out"**_ **stories, I am also getting the impression that the overall interest on this fandom is declining lately. I have noticed that many other stories (my own included) haven't been updated for a long time and only a few new writers seem to have published stories lately…**

 **All these factors combined make me wonder whether I am wasting my time by writing stories for this fandom!** **So I have decided I need some time away from** _ **"Inside Out"**_ **for a while. I believe that many of you who have been reading my stories for a while are aware of the personal dramas I have been facing lately. Unfortunately, I can't seem to get on top of them and every time I think things are beginning to improve, something else happens that ends up turning my world upside down :(** **Recently my mom got seriously injured at work. Now I have to take care of her until she gets better and none of us know how long that will be :(**

 **Since I am in a bit of a dark place at the moment, it seems almost fitting for me to start writing stories for my other passion –** _ **The Nightmare Before Christmas!**_ **It really suits my current mood (I feel like I am literally living in** _ **Halloween Town**_ **these days!) But seriously all joking aside,** _ **"The Nightmare Before Christmas"**_ **is one of my all-time favorite movies and this is a project I've wanted to do for quite some time now…**

 **But I promise that I** **will** **finish this story in the meantime too! It has 2 more chapters to go and a few days ago, I received one of the nicest reviews I ever got since I began my FanFiction journey. I know I have a few regular followers and supporters who have been encouraging me through reviews and PMs, but I also value the support of my silent/guest readers just as equally!**

 **That last review was from one of those guests and I'd like to take a moment to express my deepest thanks to that person now –** _ **Happy Guest**_ **, bless your kind heart and beautiful words! Your beautiful message really touched my heart and felt like a spark in all the darkness I am going through right now! You say that I have an army of friends behind me and I really want to believe that. But right now my insecure mind is asking me whether it's actually more like a few loyal soldiers…**

 **This story is for all of you who never stopped believing in me and gave me the strength to keep writing! But most of all, this is for you** _ **Happy Guest**_ **because your message reminded me of why I joined FanFiction in the first place – to make people smile :)**

 **Svinorita.**

* * *

 **Chapter 11 – Something's Been Making Me Blue (Part 3.)**

Riley and Kristy were both feeling fidgety and anxious throughout history class that morning. They kept glancing at each other and neither could really concentrate on what the teacher was saying at the front of the class.

" _Where are Dolly and Mary this morning?"_ Riley thought with a growing sense of dread as she stared distractedly at the classroom door. She kept hoping to see her two friends walking into the room any minute now. But the morning classes were nearly over and still there was no sign of neither Dolly or Mary…

When the bell finally rang and signaled the beginning of lunch break, Riley and Kristy were the first ones out of class. Riley pulled her cellphone out of her pocket as she and Kristy headed out into the school courtyard.

" _Please let there be a message from Dolly…"_ Riley prayed silently as she checked the phone's screen.

Surely enough, there was a text from Dolly and Riley felt her heart racing with apprehension as she held the phone with a trembling hand. She quickly grabbed Kristy by the arm and they both stopped just outside the school's main entrance.

"Kris! Dolly sent me a text message! Let's read it together…" Riley said anxiously. Kristy looked down at her friend's cellphone and they both began reading Dolly's text:

" _Andersen, could you please come and meet me at the hospital after school? I've already explained what happened to your mom and she said that she'll pick you up and drive you here. Mary is currently in a critical but stable condition and the doctor says that she will be okay. I would appreciate it if you could bring Kristy with you and please don't mention this to anyone else! Just try and act normal in the meantime. Stay strong and see you soon!"–_ Dolly.

Riley and Kristy exchanged worried looks as they finished reading the message.

Kristy shook her head slowly. "Oh God! I don't know what to think right now! I was always afraid that Mary would reach her breaking point one day…"

The red-haired girl sighed sadly. She looked down and whispered to Riley in a trembling voice, "All of us have our personal troubles that we need to deal with. But let me tell you that some of the things that poor girl has been forced to endure would crush even the strongest person!"

Riley brushed a tear from her eye as she reached out and squeezed Kristy's hand in sympathy. "I know. I can't even begin to imagine how I would cope if my life was like Mary's…"

Riley's voice became laden with guilt. "I just wish we could have helped her out a bit more."

"We will always be there for her." Kristy vowed quietly. The corner of her mouth formed into a sad smile as she added, "Mary has such a beautiful soul and she didn't want to burden us with her problems. She would rather suffer in silence than ask anyone for help!"

Suddenly, the school bell rang. Both girls headed back to class reluctantly and spent the remainder of the school day in a melancholic haze.

XXX

The end of the day couldn't arrive fast enough for Riley and Kristy. They left the schoolyard together and as soon as Riley saw her mother waiting for them next to the gate, she ran straight into her arms and began sobbing quietly.

"Mom! Have you heard anything new from Dolly? Is Mary doing alright?!" She asked worriedly.

Jill looked at her daughter sadly. "I haven't received any further updates since I spoke with Dolly this morning Sweetheart."

Jill took a deep breath and tried to fill them in about everything Dolly had told her over the phone earlier. "Dolly's cousin noticed something odd was going on next door and she alerted Dolly because she knew that Mary caught the same bus to school as she did. Dolly reported that she saw Mary waiting for the bus this morning, but apparently she never got on it. According to her, Mary appeared to be terribly distressed about something and instead of getting on the bus, she turned around and went back home. Dolly said that she called her cousin immediately and told her to check whether Mary had made it home safely."

Jill sighed and shook her head sadly before continuing in a low voice. "Dolly told me that she got off the bus at the next stop and went back to Mary's house. She knew something was terribly wrong as soon as she got there because the front door was unlocked and no one was supposed to be home. That's when Dolly made a heartbreaking discovery inside. She said that she walked into the bathroom and saw that Mary was attempting to take her own life! The poor girl couldn't stand the constant heartbreak and daily abuse anymore…"

Riley and Kristy were both staring at Jill in mortified silence. Jill sighed again and told them solemnly, "That's all I know Sweetie. If you're ready now, we can go meet them at the hospital. Your father is waiting for us in the car."

Riley nodded and walked towards the car without saying a word.

Kristy hung back unsurely. She glanced up at Jill and asked her with hesitation, "Mrs. Andersen? Is it alright if I come with you to the hospital? I'll call my mom and tell her to pick me up from there later."

"Of course you can dear." Jill replied with a warm smile. "Mary needs all her friends by her side right now…"

XXX

Fear was shaking uncontrollably as he watched the scene unfolding on the monitor. Sadness was crying softly beside him, her heart breaking for both Riley and Mary as she learned of everything that had transpired. The little blue Emotion glanced at her panic-stricken colleague and she knew then and there that she needed to pull herself together and try to be strong for both of them.

"Fear, please try to calm down." Sadness whispered gently. She pointed to the monitor and reminded him helpfully, "You saw what Dolly wrote in her message. Mary is in a critical but stable condition – she's not dead!"

The blue Emotion sighed glumly. "I can't deal with you getting sick again on top of everything that's been going on today! We have to try to stay strong for Riley and I can't do that on my own…"

Fear gave Sadness a look of deep sorrow. As was always the case whenever he got extremely nervous, he began stuttering as he tried to reply. "I know S-S-Sadness! I'm trying! B-but what if Mary doesn't pull through?!"

"I don't know." Sadness admitted tearfully. "All we can do is pray for her and hope that she'll be okay."

The blue Emotion tensed up a little and offered hesitantly, "Do you think we should call Joy and the others for help?"

A panicked look flashed across Fear's face. He uttered a nervous whimper before responding in a hushed voice, "Maybe not yet Sadness. Disgust is still too distraught about Alina's passing and Joy looked exhausted so we should really let her rest."

The purple Emotion glanced around the room and swallowed nervously as he whispered, "And if I'm perfectly honest with you, Anger is the last Emotion I want to see right now!"

Sadness nodded in understanding and turned her attention back to the monitor. "Okay Fear. I guess it makes sense that Riley should be feeling scared and sad right now given what's been happening."

The blue Emotion smiled sadly at the monitor as she watched Riley entering the hospital with her parents and Kristy. "All we can do is be there for her and try to guide her like we always do…"

XXX

Dolly was waiting for Riley and Kristy at the front of the hospital. A tall, attractive middle-aged woman was standing beside her, which Dolly introduced as her cousin; Siobhan.

"Thank goodness you're all here!" Dolly exclaimed frantically as they came up to her.

"How is Mary doing?" Jill asked worriedly.

Siobhan took a deep breath and replied grimly, "The doctor says that she's stable but currently out of it. I'll fill you in on everything I know…"

The others all watched Dolly's cousin attentively as she began recounting the events that had taken place earlier today in a serious voice. "Not long after Mrs. Bradman had left for work early this morning, I heard angry shouting coming from next door. I was hanging my washing out at the time and since the Bradman's kitchen window was open, I could hear what was going on inside Mary's house quite clearly…"

Siobhan looked down at the floor and shook her head sadly. "I heard Mr. Bradman yelling at Mary and he was saying some very obscene things. He shouted _'You useless, ugly little bitch! You can't even make breakfast properly!'_ Then I heard what sounded like a plate being thrown against a wall and shattering, followed by Mary crying and pleading for her father to stop."

Siobhan's eyes remained downcast as she admitted regretfully, "I was contemplating whether I should go over and investigate, but things seemed to quieten down shortly after that argument."

Her voice suddenly became bitter and resentful. "I saw Mr. Bradman leave the house later and I figured that he must be going to buy some more alcohol or whatever else he gets up to during the day."

Siobhan's expression turned sad once more as she looked at the others apologetically. "I thought I should give Mary some time to collect herself before checking in on her. But then I saw her walking past my house with her schoolbag over her shoulder and I realized that she was on her way to catch the bus to school. I thought something looked a little off about her and that's when I rang Dolly and told her everything I had heard this morning."

Dolly nodded and offered to take over from her cousin. "When I noticed that Mary hadn't gotten on the bus, I just knew that something terrible was going to happen, so I decided to follow her home. But by the time I got there, it was already too late! I found her sitting on the bathroom floor and she was very disorientated. She must have taken some of her mom's sleeping pills earlier and I saw that she had slashed one of her wrists with a razorblade."

Dolly glanced over at her cousin and took her hand before continuing gravely, "I was there just in time to prevent Mary from cutting her other wrist. I called Siobhan and told her to come over at once. We managed to stop the bleeding and call for an ambulance."

Siobhan nodded bleakly. "Dr. Mikkelsen said that Mary got here just in time. They pumped her stomach upon arrival and luckily the laceration on her wrist wasn't too deep. But the doctor did say that the psychological damage Mary had suffered was far greater than the physical ones…"

Dolly cleared her throat and pointed to the hospital building. "We'd better go in now and see how Mary has been progressing in the meantime. We can talk more after we've seen her!"

As the group made their way to Mary's room, Jill whispered to Siobhan, "How has Mrs. Bradman been taking all this?"

"Well the poor lady is beside herself with grief as you'd expect." Siobhan answered quietly. "She's been blaming herself for what happened to Mary. But it's neither of their faults!"

Siobhan's voice turned bitter like it had when she spoke about Mary's dad earlier. "None of this would have happened if it weren't for that awful drunkard! Thank god Mrs. Bradman promised to leave that nasty piece of work once Mary is feeling better! Her brother and sister-in-law are flying in from Canada in a few days' time, so she's going to have plenty of family support…"

XXX

A few minutes later, Riley and her friends ran into nurse Lumi outside of Mary's room.

Lumi smiled when she saw Riley and Dolly. She greeted the small group in her usual upbeat manner and informed them all calmly, "Dr. Mikkelsen checked on Mary a few minutes ago. He reported that all her vital signs look good and she should be ready to go home later tonight. She's asleep at the moment but you're more than welcome to go in. Just try not to overwhelm her!"

They all nodded in understanding and walked into the room silently. Mary's mom looked up at them as they slowly gathered around her daughter's hospital bed. She was a slightly-built brunette in her early forties and Riley noticed that she had dark circles under her eyes, which were bloodshot from crying too much.

Once everyone had introduced themselves to Mrs. Bradman, she got up and gave Riley, Dolly and Kristy a grateful hug, thanking each of them in turn for being such good friends to her daughter.

They all sat down and talked quietly for a while. Everyone was relieved when Mrs. Bradman confirmed what Siobhan had said to Jill in the hallway…she was going to file for divorce from her abusive husband. Mrs. Bradman insisted that as soon as Mary gets better, they will be moving to Canada for a fresh start and to be closer to her extended family.

Mrs. Bradman swallowed back tears as she whispered, "I am so ashamed! All this time I stayed with my husband in order to keep my family intact. But at what cost?!"

She reached down with one hand and gently stroked her daughter's hair as she slept. "I nearly lost the most precious thing in my life – my beautiful daughter! I hope she can find it in her heart to forgive me…"

Mrs. Bradman buried her face in her hands and began crying desolately. Everyone in the room was watching her sorrowfully, so none of them noticed it when Mary opened her eyes in the meantime.

Mary reached up weakly and squeezed her mom's hand. "Please don't cry mom. There's nothing to forgive. I hope you can forgive me instead…"

Everyone looked at Mary with a mixture of astonishment and relief.

Mrs. Bradman wrapped her arms around her daughter and held her tightly. "My sweet beautiful Mary! I'm so sorry!" She whispered through her tears. "I failed you Sweetheart! I should have known better…"

"Don't blame yourself honey!" Siobhan told them with a reassuring smile. "You are both victims here!"

She stepped forward and hugged Mary gently. "My dear girl! Don't ever scare me like that again!"

Riley, Dolly and Kristy formed a protective circle around Mary's bed.

Dolly smiled down at her friend kindly. She waved a finger at her like an adult telling off a naughty child and echoed her cousin matter-of-factly, "Yeah! Don't ever scare us like that again girlfriend!"

Mary looked down in embarrassment. "Guys! You all came to see me!"

"Of course we did!" Riley said with a relieved smile. "Dolly may be the only one here who has siblings…" She gestured to Mary, Kristy and Dolly before declaring proudly, "But the three of you are like my sisters!"

Kristy gave Mary's hand a gentle squeeze and added, "That's right! You have to get better little sister because we need you with us as soon as possible. Without you, we feel like The Three Stooges!"

She glanced at Riley and Dolly playfully. "Isn't that right you two…?"

Mary laughed with genuine happiness for the first time in years as she watched Dolly give Kristy a slap of approval on the shoulder, resulting in a flustered grunt from the red-head.

"I couldn't have said it better myself Brown!" Dolly exclaimed cheerfully.

XXX

Fear gave a deep sigh of relief as he watched the scene from Headquarters. "Phew! I can breathe again now!"

"Me too! It looks like Mary is going to be okay." Sadness sniffled from beside him. She suppressed a sob and asked, "Should we call the others into the room now?"

Before Fear could answer, Sadness heard a distinctive "Ahem…" coming from behind them. She turned around and was surprised to see Joy, Anger and Disgust were already here.

"Well that was intense." Disgust commented, her face scrunched up in her typical sneer of contempt. "Mary's dad is such a revolting pig!"

"You're right Disgust. He sure is!" Anger growled though clenched teeth. "If only I could get my hands on him! I'd put that pork on my fork and roast him with my flames!"

Disgust gave her red co-worker a look of absolute repulsion. "Ew! That's totally gross!"

"Knock it off you guys! Look! Riley has all her friends around her…" Joy pointed out happily. She threw her arms around her fellow Emotions and drew them into a group hug. "And I'm so delighted to have you guys with me! I have a great feeling that we're going to get our happy ending soon enough…"


	12. Walking on Sunshine

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

 **Here we are at the end of another story and what a rollercoaster journey it has been (both for Riley and her Emotions, as well as my own life over these past few months!) Before I begin on this final chapter, I'd like to take a moment to thank everyone who has supported me throughout this story and as always I'll start with the first person that reviewed and end with the most recent:**

 _ **jloew1993**_ **– Thank you so much for your kind and encouraging feedback throughout the story my friend! I was greatly moved by the compassion you expressed to many of the characters during some of their darkest moments in the story as well as the sympathy you extended to me when I was facing my own challenges! I wish you great success with your stories too :)**

 _ **Orangebird124**_ **– Thank you for all your support my friend! You stuck by me from beginning to end and as usual your reviews were analytical and full of encouragement! This may be the last time you read an "Inside Out" story by me for a while, but I won't forget your friendship anytime soon :)**

 _ **Tripledent**_ **– What can I say? Your feedback definitely ranks up there as one of my favorites! I love how you tend to guess the possible outcomes as the story is progressing and your witty comments always leave me greatly entertained! Thank you so much for everything my friend! You have also seen me through from the beginning of my FanFiction journey, to the present and I can't even begin to tell you how thrilled I am that you've chosen to extend your support by following me on my writing adventure to Halloween Town in "The Nightmare Before Christmas." Who knows? Maybe you will get to see some more of those "Inside Out" ideas I have put aside sometime in the future… :)**

 _ **RoseEmbers99**_ **– Thanks for the encouragement earlier on my friend! I hope I was able to keep you intrigued throughout the story and illustrate just why it's so important to have everything (including Emotional influences) in moderation :)**

 _ **Karebear49**_ **– Thank you so much for the sympathy and kindness you expressed towards me during some of my toughest moments dear friend! Your messages were short but often helped put a smile on my face when I was feeling really down and I don't know how to express in words how grateful I am for your understanding and compassion! It's nice to hear that I was able to keep you entertained and interested with my stories during my time here :)**

 _ **Pearl Bramble of Willowbottom**_ **– Thank you for all your generosity and friendship, as well as the encouraging feedback you left throughout many of my stories! You are always so empathetic and understanding and over time, you have become one of my dearest friends on FanFiction! Don't ever give up chasing your dreams my friend! You have taught me that no matter how alone we feel sometimes, there is always someone out there willing to listen and open their heart to you :)**

 _ **Bar Sira**_ **– Point taken and I'll be more careful with how I phrase things from now on! Thanks for the tip anyway :)**

 _ **Happy Guest**_ **– I mentioned this in my previous chapter but I'll say it again: Thank you so, so much for the heartwarming message! You have no idea how inspiring those kind words were to me and that was quite possibly one of the nicest things anyone has ever said to me! Your message motivated me to keep writing and to see this story through! Bless your beautiful heart my friend :)**

 **In addition to the reviewers, I'd also like to thank** _ **nickyreader1**_ **and** _ **jawmax**_ **for choosing to add this story to your favorites/and or follows lists :)**

 **Finally thank you to all the beautiful silent readers around the world for tuning in to this story and helping me see it through :)**

 **That's all for now. It's time to tie everything in and end this story on a happy note! Thank you once again to everyone who read and enjoyed my "Inside Out" stories and hopefully we'll meet again sometime in the future! This is by far not the end of my writing journey :)**

 **Svinorita.**

* * *

 **Chapter 12 – Walking on Sunshine.**

It was Monday morning and the third week of summer break. Over at the Andersen household, Riley and her parents were just sitting down to a breakfast of bacon and eggs with pancakes.

Everyone ate in silence for a few minutes. After a while, Bill turned to Riley and asked her for the hundredth time since last week, "Are you sure you don't want to go anywhere this summer Monkey?"

He regarded his daughter with a thoughtful expression and offered, "It's still not too late! We could go camping or spend a couple of days down by the coast…"

"Dad! I've already told you before! I want to spend my summer holidays with my two favorite people in the whole world!" Riley replied with a contented smile at her parents.

Bill shrugged and took another sip of his coffee. "Suit yourself then Monkey." He smiled and added with a slightly teasing tone, "I just thought that since all your friends are off having exciting adventures this summer…"

Jill gave her husband a look of mild annoyance. "Really Bill?! You've been repeating yourself like a parrot for days now!"

She looked at Riley and a proud smile spread across her face as she added, "I think Riley is old enough to make her own decisions and if she says that she doesn't want to go anywhere, then that's fine."

Bill threw his hands up in the air in surrender. "Okay point taken. I meant well, but if I'm irritating you girls, I'll shut up now…"

Jill and Riley both rolled their eyes in exasperation.

Riley gave her father a reassuring look and insisted, "Dad! I'm not jealous that my friends are out there in the big wide world while I'm stuck at home with you guys! I really wouldn't want it any other way!"

The 15 year old shook her head and stated matter-of-factly, "Dolly and her family went to Ireland to celebrate her grandmother's 80th birthday. That's not exactly a holiday – more like a family reunion."

Riley's expression suddenly turned a little sad. "You can't say that Mary went to Canada on vacation. She and her mom actually live there now…" She said in a quiet voice.

Jill nodded slowly. "I am really happy with how things have turned out for Mary and her mom. I've been staying in touch with Mrs. Bradman over the phone and it appears that they both got the happy ending they deserve!"

A small smile appeared on Jill's face as she informed them of her most recent conversation with Mrs. Bradman a few days ago. "Mary's mom says that she's working in a beauty salon with her sister-in-law and soon they'll have enough money to afford their own apartment in Vancouver. Apparently, Mary is really happy in her new school. Two of her cousins are in the same class as her and Mrs. Bradman tells me that they both have the same genetic condition as Mary does!"

Jill furrowed her brow as she tried to recall the name of the disorder that causes Mary and her cousins to get excessive hair growth on their faces. "I think Mary's mom said the condition is called _Hypertrichosis?_ Anyway, having her cousins around her for support has really helped Mary feel better about herself. Now she doesn't think of herself as a freak anymore and Mrs. Bradman says she can't remember the last time she saw her daughter smiling and laughing this much!"

"What about that deadbeat father of hers?" Bill asked with a sneer of contempt.

Jill shrugged. "Mrs. Bradman doesn't really know where he is, nor does she care for that matter! She mentioned hearing some rumors that he moved back to Nebraska not long after she and Mary left him."

A few minutes went by as Riley and her parents silently reflected on some more recent events while they ate their breakfast.

Finally, Riley spoke without looking up from her plate of pancakes. "I have to admit that I'm a little intrigued by Kristy's trip…"

Bill gave his daughter a surprised look. "Really? I didn't think that a Buddhist retreat would be your cup of tea, Pumpkin!"

"Dad! She didn't go to a Buddhist retreat!" Riley said impatiently. "Kristy and her mom went to Cambodia to help build a school through a charity organization!"

Jill smiled to herself and added lightly, "But knowing Kristy's mom, she's really into all that new age stuff. You know? Karma, meditation…I'm pretty sure they _will_ visit some Buddhist temples along the way!"

Bill looked lost in his thoughts. "Ah yes! The good old age of Aquarius and the Flower Power movement! I wish I was young again…" he uttered with a dreamy sigh.

Riley shrugged and took another bite of her pancakes. "I'm happy for my friends, but like I said before, I just want to spend the summer with you guys. We can watch some movies together, go for walks, cook some yummy food and maybe even change my image a little…"

Riley's parents both stared at their daughter with mortified expressions.

"But Monkey! Your hair just grew out of that so-called _new image_ with those flame-red streaks!" Bill exclaimed. He narrowed his eye at her and declared, "And if I'm perfectly honest with you, I prefer this old image without the streaks better!"

Riley burst out laughing. "I got you guys! I meant that you could help me redecorate my room! It could really do with some new pieces of furniture…"

Bill and Jill both let out sighs of relief. "We can definitely do that!" They exclaimed in unison.

XXX

After they had cleared up the dishes from breakfast, Bill suggested they should go for a walk. It was shaping up to be a beautiful, sunny day and they could all use some fresh air! The three of them went down to the local park and fed the ducks at the pond before stopping for ice cream on the way home.

Riley was a little surprised when her parents decided to stop at a nearby flower shop along the way and purchase a lovely bouquet of white and purple flowers. She felt confused. She thought they were going to call it a day and go home but instead, her parents drove her to an area of San Francisco Riley had never seen before.

"Mom? Dad? Where are we going…?" Riley asked uncertainly.

"We're just going to visit an old friend sweetheart." Bill said in a serious tone.

Before Riley could ask who he meant, she noticed that they had driven straight into a cemetery. They got out of the car and her parents led her to Alina's grave a short time later.

"Would you like to place these flowers on Alina's grave sweetie?" Bill asked his daughter gently as he handed her the bouquet.

Riley looked at the flowers and accepted them with tears in her eyes. "Would I ever!"

Jill watched as Riley leaned down and carefully laid the flowers on Alina's grave. Then she gently wrapped her arms around her daughter and Bill and embraced them as she suggested quietly, "Why don't we make a deal? From now on, we'll try to make time for our friends and visit more often…"

"…Instead of in places like this." Jill finished sadly.

Bill and Riley both nodded in agreement.

"It's a deal." Bill said solemnly.

Jill released her husband and daughter. She gave them a small smile of encouragement and said, "On a happier note, nurse Lumi has invited us to her house for a traditional Romanian feast this evening."

Bill's expression perked up instantly at this. "That sounds exciting and yummy!"

Riley nodded eagerly in agreement. "I hope Lumi made some of her delicious honey cakes!"

"I'm sure she has sweetheart!" Jill replied with a small laugh. "And guess what? I heard that your medical crush has been invited too! Lumi said that Dr. Mikkelsen will be leaving next week to visit his family back in Norway, so she invited him to one last party before he goes!"

Bill nudged Riley with his elbow and whispered teasingly, "There will be plenty of honey cakes for your taste buds as well as for your eyes to feast on Monkey!"

Riley felt her cheeks burning as she blushed at her father's words.

"Dad!" She protested, punching him in the arm playfully.

Bill rubbed his arm as a sly smile worked its way across his lips. "If I were you I'd watch out Pumpkin! It looks like you're going to have some competition for the young doctor's attentions!"

He pointed to Jill and claimed mockingly, "Your mother has come thoroughly prepared for this occasion! I saw her cleaning her glasses meticulously this morning. I'm sure she'll be able to see Dr. Mikkelsen nice and clearly now…"

Jill gave her husband a not-so-playful punch in the other arm. "Now, now Bill…"

The three of them burst out laughing as they turned around and headed back towards the car.

XXX

Joy was alone at the console. She insisted that the other Emotions take a well-earned break and reflect on the events of the past few weeks in solitude, while she took sole control over their young host for the day and worked some much-needed "Joy magic" on Riley.

Joy had already ensured that Riley got to spend a lovely morning with her parents and by the time they arrived at Lumi's party later that evening, her fingers were pretty tired from pushing buttons on the console all day! But Joy didn't mind. She paused momentarily in her task and admired the new memories sitting on the short-term shelves nearby. The majority of them were happy yellow orbs that she had helped Riley create throughout the day and she hoped that they would bring a smile to Riley's face when she looked back on them one day.

Well, save for one…

Joy's eyes picked out the sole multi-colored orb amongst the sea of yellow and she felt a twinge of sorrow as she looked at it. This particular orb was part yellow and part blue and it had been created when Riley and her parents had visited Alina's grave earlier that afternoon. As much as Joy wanted today to be filled with laughter and happiness for Riley, she had also realized that she couldn't deny Riley the right to grieve in moments like this. She had already made that critical error in the past and the consequences had been almost disastrous!

She had learned the hard way that sometimes, you can't have happiness without a little sorrow in life. And this was one of those occasions...

As soon as Joy saw that Riley and her parents were going to place those flowers on Alina's grave, she had called Sadness into the room and they had helped Riley process her grief together.

Joy turned her attention away from the memory orbs and looked back at the monitor. The yellow Emotion smiled as she saw Riley laughing along with Lumi and her parents. Apparently, Dr. Mikkelsen was telling everyone how he might retire from the medical scene and take up rally driving during his stay in Norway. He had always had a secret passion for the sport and one of his friends in Norway owned a rally car, so he might just get to fulfill a life-long dream…

Joy started humming "Walking on Sunshine" by a group called _Katrina and The Waves_ as she resumed pressing buttons on the console, making it light up with a cheerful yellow glow. She felt confident that things were going to be great from now on!

The End.

* * *

 **P.S. I would like to leave you all with these beautiful words from Nikos Kazantzakis: "If we don't want to allow the world to sink into chaos, we must release the love that is trapped within the hearts of all humans."**


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